Saturday, July 6, 2013

Another Zero in Damascus

7/6
Started and ended in Damascus, VA

Another great breakfast, this time with gluten free waffles. That is Pete and a clean shaven Mark enjoying a yogurt appetizer before breakfast.


Today was our zero day since yesterday was the fun zero.  After breakfast the kids watched TV and I planned the next few drop boxes for Mary-j. The town wide wifi is not fast, and sometimes I can't connect at all, but eventually I got the emails sent. It was frustrating waiting for emails to send, but I was outside on the front porch so it was still relaxing. 

Of course the next thing we did was eat again, then off to the community pool, only $3 each for the whole day. On the way to the pool we decided to check out a hostel called "The Place". We knew some hikers so talked for a few minutes. The kids got a huge slice of pizza from "The Dude". A big guy with deep voice who had the boys agree to "Listen to your father, listen to your mother, and respect your sister".  

The pool was really nice with a big shady area for parents and a diving board and slide for the kids. We stayed till 6:00 when they closed. As we were walking out the lifeguard put a robot in the pool to clean it, the kids really thought that was cool since we use one at home to vacuum.


After the pool we saw Shivers and Unknown who planned to leave today but took an extra day in town. Shivers (who got his name from being so cold in his ultralight sleeping bag) played a few board games with the kids while I figured out what happened to our Saturday REI delivery via FedEx.  The $40 delivery. Turns out the REI guy I called to place the order had the address as West Laurel when it is really East Laurel. The package was sent back to the FedEx warehouse and expected to ship again on Monday. Instead I'll buy a new filter, but it won't be as nice as my current filter, and have the replacement cartridge sent to my next drop spot. It will be cheaper to buy a new filter than to pay for two more nights lodging, and REI is sending it for free and refunding my $40 shipping fee. 

The kids were really tired, but the boys are really into reading so it was hard to tell them to go to bed. Pete is really proud, so am I, that he read an entire book while at the Dancing Bear. Harvey was reading until we realized his new socks are missing. We looked all over but can't find them. Hopefully he left them outside and we find them in the morning. 

I have to thank Giggles and Melissa for, at least, 30 min of phone time I took to resolve the REI shipment issue. AT&T does not work in town so I can't call anyone. 

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