Trubrit (Nigel) has an Aikido Dojo in Bastian, VA. He is currently working on building an amazing outdoor center that is scheduled to open next year after Trail Days. He came to pick us up from the trail, took us to his Dojo, provided dinner, shower, modern plumbing, use of kitchenette, facilities to hand wash laundry, a ride to and from Bland for resupply and mail, a movie on a projection screen home entertainment system, a night or two of sleep on the Dojo mats, and a ride back to the trail all for FREE.
He is doing this to spread the word about Ft. Bastian. Look them up on Facebook. Email me if you want to bid to help him build his ropes course/zip line.
One of the services he provided special for me was a free Aikido lesson on how to take someone down with a trekking pole. Check out the pictures to follow.
I spent it resupplying, packing food, and exchanging some cold weather gear for summer weight gear. I also got to eat at the Pizza Plus buffet next door, which I tweeted about earlier. They have an amazing view out their huge windows. Some more hikers checked in today and played guitar and sang for a few hours this afternoon. It rocked my world. And I am in the process of loading about 300 pictures onto Flickr thanks to the Fort Bastian Recreation Dojo in Bastian, VA where they have been kind enough to let me Bogart their computer for HOURS this evening.
My next endeavor will be to get some sleep so I can hike a bit tomorrow and get started on breaking in my new trail runners with hopefully not too much damage to my feet. And then move on to trying to finish hiking through Virginia in a month.
I would really like to write about yesterday, which for me is still June 7th. The memory jog I will use for that great day is: “Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning.”
It was a great and very lucky day for Napster and I. We found and got picked up and taken to the Dojo by complete coincidence and happenstance. It was all just perfectly timed. But for now this is all I can stay up to write.