Day 61, Trail Days, total miles- 818.4

I woke up at 8:00 am. Iceman and I were going into town to eat breakfast. Dutch and Wanderlust were already gone. It was a half mile or more to town. We hitched a ride with a couple of section hikers.

We went to the Dairy King. One of a few places that serve breakfast. Dutch and Wanderlust were both eating there at a table for two. The place was packed. Iceman and I sat with two section hikers. I had french toast, scrambled eggs and bacon. They didn't have decaf coffee so I just had orange juice.

While at Dairy King a lady was sitting on a bench near me. She started talking to us about the trail. She was Mama B. She thru hiked last year. She was 71 years old at the time.  Making her the oldest woman to thru hike the AT. She talked about her hike for 30 minutes. Very enjoyable. She is starting the CDT in June. She hopes to do the PCT as well. She lives in Knoxville Tennessee. We talked about Big South Fork near there. It's one of my favorite places to backpack near Cincinnati. We talked about our favorite trails there.

After Dairy King I walked a few blocks to the Mojo Coffee House to get a cup of decaf. I saw Great Legs, Hoops and a couple other familiar faces. On the way out a lady sitting outside at a table said hi. She was one of the past thru hikers that was doing trail magic at Wise Shelter near Grayson Highlands. That was three or four weeks ago. I sat down and talked to her about my hike for several minutes. It's amazing at the sense of community that one feels when thru hiking the AT.

I picked up my repaired trekking poles on my way back to tent city.
At 1:45 pm the four of us gathered in front of the Mojo Coffee House with hundreds of thru hikers. Most were from past years. There were 40-50 current thru hikers. I saw many familiar faces. I talked to Newbie and her young daughter. I think she is nine years old. I first saw them in Neels Gap before starting my hike. Some of the hikers in the parade had water guns. It's a tradition for those in the parade and those watching to spray each other

Ten minutes from the start of the parade there was a terrible accident. A car driven by a man with a possible medical condition drove into the hikers walking in the parade. Wanderlust, Iceman, Dutch and I were not injured. I was very close to the car at the time. I helped in the effort to get the car stopped.  I was asked by the police to go to the police station to give a statement. There were six to ten people struck. I'm not aware of their condition, but it was serious. It was very sad.

The young lady being treated in the picture is Rainbow Bright. She is a current thru hiker. The good news is her only injury turned out to be a broken little toe. I saw her at the entrance to tent city at 7:30 pm. I was shocked to see her and elated to find out that she had such minor injuries. I showed her the picture I took of her. I was told by the Police Chief this evening that all patients were listed in stable condition or better. At least a couple of them had under gone surgery.

The days not yet over, but I thought I should post this. I'm sure this will make national news.

We had planned to stay in Damascus tonight, but after today's events we weren't feeling very festive, so we left Damascus at 8:30 pm.