Damascus to Saunders Shelter

I spent most of the day trying to patch up my air mattress, as it got a hole in it. sleeping on the ground is cold and miserable. I had breakfast with aloha nice shirt at the Dairy King, which wasn't great , then hung out at the outfitter most of the day. Neckbone and Mud came by and we chatted for a bit, and it was sure nice to see those boys. a little later 12% came by and we split a pizza at Blue Blaze Cafe, and he told me how it was going. the hole in my pad, was unpatchable apparently, so I just sighed and started to pack to head out of town. as I was getting my stuff together at the Hostel, a young lady named Katherine asked me if I was going into the trail and did I mind if she tagged along. I said sure , and we headed out at 2:30. we hiked the Creeper trail till it connected with the AT, and did 9 miles to the shelter. I set up my tent on a pine needle laden area, and cooked up Rice and beans for dinner. I helped Kat get settled as she is a very inexperienced backpacker, and chatted with hikers Weatherman, Simple and Kate.