[at-l] Continued RD Adventures

[pudscrawler at aol.com]

 I have forgotten which date I last reported about our trail-angeling RD and Spinster, but I think it was after we had also picked up Laceys and Pi but before they headed south, going farther per day than RD and Spnster.
 
 Anyway, that morning we took Pi and Lacies to their drop-off point and then returned to the Baptist hostel at Troutdale to get Rockdancer and Spinster, who planned to hike from Dickey Gap to Massie Gap.  The thought was that, if Pi and Lacies dawdled (not likely), they could catch up with them.
 
 We were to meet RD and S at The Scales to hand back their packs.  Bad idea.
 
 Do not, repeat DO NOT, ever attempt to take a passenger car up to the Scales.  
 
 So, we turned back after a few scrapes of the bottom of the Honda.  We left notes for them at an agreed-upon trail crossing, saying that we'd meet them at Massie Gap.  Actually, they had hoped to spend the night at the shelter before Massie Gap and not have to go down there to get their packs.
 
 If this sounds confusing, well, it probably is because it was a confusing day.  The notes were on hot pink index cards in ziplocks, so we hoped that they would notice them.  Alan put one under a rock at one place; I, at another.  Then we went blissfully off to Marion to work out and to have a fajita wrap at One-Twenty, a little restaurant on Main Street.
 
 The scenario we were playing out was to have them at Massie Gap at 5:30 PM.  We were there at 5:15 because I'd never picked up RD without his waiting a while for me.  This was to be a nice surprise.
 
 They weren't there.  They still weren't there at 6:45.  Ponderer insisted on waiting at the appointed spot in the cold with my 20-degree orange-red sleeping bag wrapped around him.  (It was windy, so watching him try to get it around him was pretty funny--think Superman's cape.)  I went to the visitor's center to see what I should do to notify whomever about the possibility of missing hikers.  No one was there, of course.
 
 At 6:55 I was saying, "Let's go."
 
 Ponderer was saying, "Let's wait" as he wrote a note to leave on a picnic table for them in case they arrived later.  It was almost completely dark.
 
 Then I saw a bit of orange coming down the slope across the way.  Hoplite's jacket!  Blinking the car lights and tooting the car's horn, we waited, overjoyed, to see RD come closer.  There was only one person coming though.  Where was Spinster?
 
 Indeed, where was Spinster?  RD had last seen her as she was driven away by a couple in a pickup to meet the Troutdale ambulance.  She had been struck down by an acute abdominal attack of some sort at the Scales.
 
 We went to the hostel.  No Spinster.  We went to the Diner where RD and Ponderer were able to talk with the ER in Marion.  She'd been released.  Back to the hostel.  Down to the hospital.  Maybe they had more info.  Maybe she was sitting in their waiting room.  Face to face inquiry brought results.  We learned that she had been taken to the hostel by a nurse who lives in Troutdale.  Back to the hostel.
 
There she was, looking quite pert and ready to hike again.
 
The next day we took them to Damascus to stay at Dave's Place.  Pretty soon we were all in the car again, heading for the corn maze at Abingdon.  Well, it was a kinda hike.  
 
Then to Cracker Barrel to get ice cream for RD.  Then back to Damascus to have the second meal of the day at Baca.
 
My understanding is that they planned to hike south of Damascus for the next three days.  Then she would board a bus for Austin, Texas.  
 
And I figure that Rockdancer must be at Kincora by now.
 
As for Lacies and Pi, they are probably farther south than that by now.  If you encounter them, please tell them that we picked up YoungGun yesterday at the same spot we found them, although he was headed for Troutdale in the RIGHT direction.  YoungGun doesn't expect to catch them, but he is so enthusiastic that I suspect he might.  (YoungGun has nothing to do with the NRA.  It's just that his last name away from the trail is Cannon.)
 
Kinnickinic
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