Swimming yesterday really burned my eyes, way red eye.

Plan was to drive into GWNF to camp. Drove out rt 33 but no side road into forest. Picked first road to North & wandered N & W hopefully into the forest. Found FS road leading to ATV TH 6 miles away. Narrow snakey dirt road. Encountered 2 trucks pulling ATV trailers heading down & no place to pull ove. I backed down to wide spot. Drove up a bit further, found wide spot on wide out corner for camp. Hung out there. Walked about 45 mins up gaining 700′, turned around as it was getting dark & cold. Several rigs pasted going up hill into dark, probably setting up for first light deer hunt.

wOODS APPEARS TO BE DEVOID OF DEER. Even after dark several rigs went by my camp. Bare trees. Never drove to TH, didn’t need to push on a poor road.

Slept w/ heater on low. Comfortable.

Need to be @ Shen Dao Clinic for my seesion @ 9:00.

Headed out. Stoped @ RV store to buy a h2o filter as light for replacement was flashing. I read the instructions and they said it could be the battery also. I changed it and saved buying a filter.

At clinic Amara worked me over. SAhe stuck several needles in, small as htey were, they still caused me discomfort. Leg problem appears to be the classic un flexibility in iliotibial & hamstring muscles. Back on the foam roll.

Stopped @ SBC to say thanks & goodbye. Spoke w/ Tim & Thomas & headed out.

Plan is to drive the Skyline Drive North. Bare trees. Drove 15 miles to Big Meadow to only open XG.

Cold & snow flurries, I can’t imagine tent camping. I’m hunkered down w/ the heater turned on high & I’m not overly toasty. Glass conducts the heat. XM radio, internet access, & comfort.

Oh, been drinking the Virginia Whiskey, not a moonshine, but a 3 grain double distilled, soaked in cherry & oak chips, & aged 2 years. OK taste to drink neat. Cheaper than Scotch. Am I just seeking an alcohol buzz itself? This taste thing is posing? Monarch Vodka soon?

The Appalachian Trail (AT) shares the Skyline ridge. I walked S on it in the snow flurries. Trail is rocky hard walking rocky. A few other campsites occupied. $18 for a camp site and a 5 min shower.

Short walk in park at dark: deer all but make me kick them out of my way.

Plan is to finish the Drive , head over into WV, & up to Heath, OH on Wed.

Slept well @ Thomas’ house. Rain came in.

Drove to SBC to inquire about helping at the 6 pack downhill race. Suggested to drive to venue, Brandywine, WV and help the timing operation.

Headed out W on 33, Twisty climbing 2 lane up Shenandoah mtn to state border & twisty steep down to Brandywine. X’d into WV wind & rain picked up. I’m thinking I am going to be in the rain volunteering for something that I am doing just because… ? Rain & wind abated by time I dropped down into WV.

A note about these roads: They lack the elevation but they make up for it in climbs, twists, banked corners, & tenacity. No shoulders. But the roads get the job done.

6 pack downhill celebrated it’s 14th year. It is a downhill race ridden by mostly XC riders & course is mostly a steep XC course. Park of my understanding is it used to cost a 6 pack of beer per race and at end of season series winner got all the beer but it was consumed at an invitational party and everybody got in on the prize. I recorded time at the finish line.

I am impressed with the close community of bikers here. Been going on so long and riders have grown up with events.

Race broke up & next event was a fixed gear race in the city park near Tim’s. Fixed gear mtn bikes. Gets crazy. Bunch of racers & hangers on race / watch these guys dice it out in tight woods track. Fixed gears: think tricycle: your legs have to constantly go around, no coasting.

Then the season ending party: It is a sorta costume kegger party. Lots of people crammed into a small house & back yard drinking beer listening to loud music. Wild. I lasted for 2 hours & retreated to the silent comfort of my van.

Leg pain is not responding to steroids & pain pills doc prescribed. I will be trying acupuncture & Chineese medicine first thing Monday.

Hanging around town waiting for Monday appointment & then head North. Parked @ city park hoping that I can get in for a swim for exercise when they open.

Push Industries will be getting my fork on Tuesday, I hope to get it back before Tday.

Meeting Cal and Brian Minter for dinner on Wed at Heath, Ohio.

Sure at odds when I am not either biking or planning on biking. This leg thing needs to go away.

Crunchy gravel parking lot survival to me means security from the property owner. Gravel means unimproved / under development and perhaps a more absent landlord. Plus dishwater runs thru the gravel. Noisy truck traffic on the hardroad, however.

Drove back into town & hung at the grocery store parking lot doing chores & computer work. I sharpened my 2 knives.

2 nights ago at Cally’s I asked these 2 young guys sitting next to me where I could buy Moonshine. They suggested Bush Mill further down the road and go to the Mom & Pop gas stations and ask and I might get a lead to a score. 2 hours away. I researched Moonshine on Google and learned that VA sells legal moonshine as Virginia Whiskey. The pitch was convincing. Today I bought 2 2 different bottles, 1 of corn, less than 30 days old and a corn, barley, & another grain and aged 2 years. Pot still double distilled. Haven’t tried it. I need to learn the correct way to drink it. Neat & out of a Mason Jar? My rationale of the state store was that perhaps the distilling didn’t leach out lead from the solder joints.

Plan is to help on the trail maintenance project for the bike club. Thomas lead it. He is active in club leadership, and to me, knowledgeable & skilled at the trail work. We rehabilitated 6 grade dips on a local trail. What a hump. Walked in on trail made for bikes. Bike trails take a long time to get from here to there. A hiking trail would have been a straight shot. Worked and hiked out in dark.

This is what we did:

Final product:

Thomas invited me to park in the vacant lot beside his house and a shower.