The Itis Strikes, and then We Went to a Farm

9-7-09 day 97
start: Manassas Gap Shelter, VA
end: The Robinson's Farm, VA
daily mileage: 10.8
total mileage: 1218.8

We were headed into the town of Front Royal, VA today, and hiked the 11 miles to the road super fast. We were there and hitching by noon, and got picked up by a guy who's tank was on empty. It was a little touch and go but we made it to town. Our first order of business was to head over to the China Jade for lunch. "The Itis" describes the physical condition you find yourself in after an AYCE buffet. It comes with all the normal swollen stomach pain, as well as the desire to slip peacefully into a several hour food coma, and, indeed, an acute sense of self loathing. Feeling the full weight of the Itis we perused the K-Mart next door only to find that after 3 months away, K-Mart still sucks.

Disney's brother's wife's family, the Robinsons, live near Front Royal so we were planning on having their son, James, pick us up around 6 and stay at their farm for the night. For the rest of the day we knew we wanted to see either District 9 or Inglorious Basterds but decided we had better buy groceries before movie time. We went over to the store and who do we run into but Mrs. Robinson! It was crazy! It would have been silly to have James make a separate trip so after we got our food we just went back with Mrs. Robinson and her daughter Joan.

The farm is great. They have a bunch of chickens and a handful of cows. We drank loads of fresh milk right from the cow and had a fantastic dinner. Later that night we played Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights edition, an awesome board game, and then watched The Delta Force with Chuck Norris. It was awesomely 80's and Chuck was defiantly in his prime.