NSL Quickies

After only a few hours of sleep, we decided to start walking before 6 a.m. The sun had risen, but it was hard to tell since it hid behind dense fog. We took hilly back roads that weaved throughout the Virginia countryside. Cows’ heads turned as they heard the noises of two creatures cutting through the morning mist. I felt like a ghost.
-BT

I must not be losing as much weight as I thought. As I used my backpack as a bench one morning, the two-liter hydration pack stuffed inside exploded, completely soaking all of my possessions, not to mention leaving me without water. This forced us to visit a Laundromat for the first time in five weeks to dry everything off.
-DC

Although we excel in stealth mode and have yet to have a negative run-in with the police, camping illegally still stresses me out. So we’ve gotten bolder as the sun sets each night, arbitrarily knocking on doors we pass to ask if we can camp on the property. The first time we tried this, a couple of 20-somethings, who were clearly on drugs, came to the door looking confused. I opened my mouth despite not knowing what words would come out. ‘Your car door is wide open,’ I informed them. We walked on. On the second attempt, the woman who answered cited the fact she had too much stuff in the yard as the reason we weren’t allowed to stay. The truth was that she was scared s***less of us. The third attempt was a success. Tim and Corinna provided us with level ground in their backyard, electric outlets, a hose for showers we never took, a job in the garden so we could repay the favor in the morning, zucchini bread, Sunny-D, and a send-off prayer.
-BT

It felt like my body was a tuning fork that somebody had banged against a counter top as the lightning struck the river I was trying to get out of. I can’t even remember the noise I made, but Brian stared looking stunned from safe ground as he heard my reaction. Our teeth chattered. Our limbs shook. This was the first storm I can recall I couldn’t escape from. No shelter other than big trees.
-DC

As we do 100 times a day, we had a choice to make. Turn right toward the small-town business district, or turn left toward the park. I’m not sure why we chose left, but I’m certainly glad we did. All we wanted to do was pee and rest. We saw a giant gathering of people from all ages and wondered if we should approach, not wanting to disturb the party in the shelter. We tried to sneak in and out, but a guy our age stopped us, inviting us to be a part of the McGlothlin family reunion. They were packing the food away and said it needed to be eaten. We fixed plates of banana pudding, coleslaw, chocolate cake, and gulped down some Pepsi. We chatted with half of the huge family and were even invited to crash their photos. A 19-year-old couple was determined to give us a lift over the Shenandoah Mountains. After they sped away, we were thankful we chose left.
-BT

I was just itching my head when I felt the little guy crawling around in my hair. Just one of many ticks that haven’t been invited to use my body like a buffet but tried to do so anyway. Even wearing jeans, they can creep up to thigh-high levels. Too flat to smash, we are forced to pick up the pests and chuck them out of the tent multiple times an evening.
-DC

‘You guys looking for a place to stay?’ a bearded guy asked. He was with two girls and another guy who looked like him. I didn’t understand what he was getting at. They explained there were no hotel vacancies around town except for one – the place they were staying at. They were hiking the Appalachian Trail and had sympathy for backpackers. They were simply looking out for us. We explained we tried to avoid paying for hotels. As we waited for the police to arrive to help us find a place to camp, we chatted with our four new friends. The two guys, although they looked like brothers, had met on the AT. It turned out both their girlfriends lived in Philadelphia, so the girls met one another and took a road trip to Virginia to visit their boyfriends. As if that wasn’t coincidence enough, one of the girls mentioned she was friends with a couple people from Iowa from working at a summer camp in Maine. I used to date one of them.
-BT

When I met Jesse, he said it felt like he already knew me because of the blog. It was a very cool feeling because just a few moments earlier, Brian and I were standing in the audience watching his band - These United States. He is the lead singer and guitarist for the band that is currently touring through Europe. Jesse caught Brian and I off guard when he gave our adventure a shoutout right before his last song. As a response, Brian threw one of our No Stranger Land t-shirts on stage, where it hung from the microphone as the set finished.
-DC

Tim Banks was the guy who knew how to get things at the Shenandoah River campground. He brought us a cooler to keep our drinks cold. He found us inner tubes to float down the river on during a day of rest. He even fixed us chicken wings and baked potatoes when we returned in the evening. I think he felt bad we got caught in the hailstorm. Tim had three more Chihuahuas than he did teeth, and he had a total of three Chihuahuas. Beanie Baby was his favorite. He loved it like a child. He lived in a trailer down by the river and we talked by it for hours until it was time for bed. I loved his philosophy, which boils down to the golden rule. He said he bets we’ll remember him the rest of our lives. ‘Just remember me as that crazy guy,’ he said. ‘That way you’ll remember me.’
-BT


Matt and Amber approached me as I rested in a gazebo in a small town park, waiting for Brian to return with filled water packs. After a short conversation, I found out they remembered seeing us walk into McDonald’s a few hours earlier. Their offer was to take us ten miles down the road, but the ride ended after a forty-mile leap through the Shenandoah Valley.
-DC

We had taken cover beneath a gazebo to protect our laptop from the rain and our heads from the hail. This was our third hailstorm in five weeks. Not more than 10 minutes after the storm began, the sky was sunny and clear. We planned to call it a night in the park, so I walked to stock up on water in the tiny town of Shenandoah. All the businesses were closed, so I resorted to knocking on a random person’s door. The woman gladly let me use her outdoor faucet. When I inquired about camping in the park, she said we needed to inform the police. Thirty seconds later, a sheriff pulled up. Apparently the woman had gotten the sheriff his first job, so they were in cahoots. The sheriff handed me his cell phone to let me call the town police. They said they’d let all the officers know two boys would be camping out in the park that closes after dark. I proudly walked down the hill to tell Denny of my recent success. When I returned, he was sitting with a couple McDonald's employees we had seen at lunch earlier that day. We hit the road with the high schoolers five minutes later. All my hard work had meant nothing. As we cruised down the road and I ticked the miles off in my head, I smiled.
-BT