Time off the Trail

I now in New Market, VA which is a bit off the trail. We got picked up this afternoon after a very nice free lunch at the Dutch Haus B&B in Montebello by Bigfoot, whom I hiked with in Georgia. Shadow Cast, Peacock, Daddy-O and myself are going to zero here tomorrow and then drive down to Damascus for trail days. It will be nice to take a couple of days off the trail and relax a bit. Hopefully we will be able to reconnect with people on the trail whom we have not seen in a while because of different hiking paces. I will also be looking into getting some new gear. Partly because somethings are starting to wear out, and partly to lighten the load.
Shadow and I had not hiked with Peacock and Daddy-O since we left Pearisburg. They had been behind us the whole time and I had been leaving them messages in the shelter journals. We had also been leaving messages on each other's cellphones. Shadow and I got a late start and we saw messages in the dirt and from Southbounders from Peacock and Daddy-O, but we did not catch up with them until the shelter. It seemed like they were always just ahead of us and we were about to catch them.
Peacock and Daddy-O are both hangers (people who sleep in hammocks). As we were hanging out in the shelter Daddy-O was lying on my Therma-Rest and suggested switching for the night. I agreed and spent last night in his hammock. He slept in the shelter and had a mouse run across his forehead. The hammock was a bit weird, but I saw the potential, and I will try sleeping in a hammock again during trail days. However it was very cold last night and since it was clear Daddy-O had not set up the rain fly. That let the wind blow right through, and as I tossed and turned I slid off his pad, and ended up very cold. Apparently the more you sleep in a hammock the more comfortable it becomes. We shall soon see.
One interesting thing on the trail is hair. Many people start off thinking that they will not cut their hair or their beards for the entire trail. I cut my hair short to start off with and today I got my second buzz cut since I started hiking. I am still thinking that I will not touch the beard for the whole trip and see how long it gets. Peacock and Shadow were also going to let their hair grow out. Three weeks ago Peacock changed his mind and got a bit of a trim but left it fairly long. About a week ago Shadow decided he needed it cut. In Troutville he inquired about the cost of a buzz cut and balked at the 11 dollar price tag. Respect (someone I have leapfroged a bit) went for that same $11 buzz cut and thought it was the best 11 dolars he has spent. When Shadow and I got to Lexington he was desperate. He asked Biz and John (Biz went to collge with my dad) if they had clippers. They did, but they had only been used on their standard poodle, and had not been used in a while. At this point it did not matter, he wanted the hair off. After a couple of minutes of fun in the basement, Shadow looked like a new man and felt much better. I waited until Bigfoot's house for human clippers with different lengths.