Sunday, May 22, 2016 11:41 pm
Location: US 220 / Daleville (727.5 miles)

Cynthia made for Beast and I a breakfast of eggs and sausage, and then she, Philip, and Beast's mom left to go to church, leaving us to enjoy our zero.

Meanwhile, I was having a bit of a panic attack over my phone being on the fritz after getting a bit wet in yesterday's thunderstorm. Overnight, after it refused to charge and was registering random taps on the bottom of the screen making it impossible to use, I had put it in a bag with a dehumidifier (basically like a reusable silica gel package). By morning, it didn't seem to be working any better, so I put it back in the bag and started panicking.

Beast eventually had the idea to try a different charging cable, which did charge the phone, and the twitchy screen problem also disappeared.

What was almost a need to replace my phone was reduced to merely needing to go to Walmart to buy a new cable and a waterproof case. The worst case I was dreading was to rent a car, drive home, hope I could get my phone to backup to my computer, restore it to one of my old phones, and drive back. This would have been a phenomenally awful way to spend a zero, and I'm glad it didn't become that. I celebrated by taking a nap.

I'm rather disappointed about having to replace a cable after only two months. I'd expect better build quality from Apple.

I also bought a second charger for my watch, and will be lugging that piece of dead weight around for peace of mind just in case something happens to the one I started with.

After our Walmart and McDonalds run, we said goodbye to Beast's mom, who then left for home.

While eating lunch, Beast and I planned our itinerary for the next week. We expect to be in Buena Vista, VA on 5/27, and Waynesboro on 5/31 or 6/1, with entry into Shenandoah on 6/2.

I also performed some surgery on my pack, adding a piece of Velcro to the left hip belt to help hold the adjustable part in pace (to keep it from lengthening).

We had pizza for dinner, and then Beast and I dried out our shoes with hair dryers (still wet from yesterday's rain), and started packing our packs to leave tomorrow. Despite having all day to prepare, we still got to bed late. Town days just aren't conducive to getting to sleep before hiker midnight.

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