I love Zero Days. Blue and I had no intentions of having a complete day of rest, but we sure enjoyed it. Funny thing is when you are hiking day in and day out, it’s easy to loose track of days, weeks and Holidays. This upcoming weekend is Memorial Day and Blue has her resupply box at the USPO. Problem is they are closed after 10am Saturday till Tuesday. So we need to slow down! Damascus is less than 75 miles and no point of running into town and sitting for days waiting for the post office to open. So here we stay on Our Zero Day at Roan, Virginia.

First things first, we had this incredibly delicious breakfast, that was literally, out of this world. It’s so beautifully presented that the designer of the meal talks about it as we are all salivating. We indeed, are hungry hikers! It’s all homemade from the biscuits and gravy, lemon tort, tomato basil pie, three different egg dishes including a soufflé, eggs with smoked bacon and sausage and cheesy eggs. There was the best French toast I’ve ever had with maple pecan crusted goodness, potatoes with you guessed it-more bacon, fresh fruit that was presented inside of a cored pineapple and the main course – smoked brisket that you can cut with a fork. There were pastries, muffins, and fried eggs that were actually candied. This breakfast deserves a Michelin Star! Oh my goodness, and you eat till it’s all gone. There were close to 30 of us there and we devoured it all.

No slack packing, no chores to do, just rest and relaxation. Blue and I had resupply boxes sent up the road to Station 19 and I was preparing to get us a ride. But Blue being Blue, she wants to walk. We grabbed our empty daypacks and walked the road to pick up our boxes. I don’t like road walking, especially roads where cars, trucks and Semi’s have no regard for hikers on the shoulders. It’s, like I’ve said before, one of the scariest parts of hiking. But we made it unscathed, and arrived at Station 19. Gosh, I am glad we listened to the rest of the trail gossip and chose to stay where we did. It was deplorable! Downright dingy and not my cup of tea. Evidently Dave the Owner was nowhere to be found and Lisa, his co-hart in crime was out and about! So we waited. The Beer Delivery Truck showed up and as he was unloading, Lisa arrived. Problem was that she had no keys to open up the bar or the place where our boxes were stored. But she did offer us water and we waited for Dave. About 1/2 hour later Grumpy, not so nice Dave arrived, the boxes were located and we were on our way. Lisa offered us a ride, which was unexpected and I jumped on it. Me and Blue rode in the back end of her open air Jeep as she drove us back to Mountain Harbour.

Afterwards, we hung out, soaked our feet in the river and spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing! It was a most perfect Zero Day. I think of the first 40 Days & 40 Nights on this trail and am overwhelmed with emotions. It has been an incredible journey to date, and hard to even think of what’s to come. Honestly there is something beautiful about not knowing. Not knowing, not worrying not even planning where I will lay my head down to sleep. On trail hikers always ask, “Where are you camping tonight?” And my standard answer is, I don’t know-when I get tired, I’ll stop. God has provided me with a flat piece of ground to rest on virtually every night. Sometimes it’s dry and sometimes it’s not. But I never need to consume my day with these small details. And that allows me opportunity to be open to the Lords leading and his destination. The spreadsheet is gone, but the hope for God’s grace and new mercy’s is always better than a planned day of PUDS!

“They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.””
‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬