Day 44: The Marion Zero

April 20: Finally, I would get my much needed zero day. Amanda left in the dead of morning, having to get back to work and other life commitments. I was on my own now, and I spent the first part of the morning working on Atlas Quest and this blog. I didn’t work very late into the morning, however, because although the rain had stopped during the night, the Weather Channel was predicting rain later in the afternoon. I wanted to get all of my tasks around town completed before that happened.

Marion, a small little town in Virginia that I never visited during my first thru-hike. This was new stuff for me!

So I walked downtown, both to sightsee and get photos for something that was visually interesting to post today. =) I crossed a creek that was clearly flowing much higher and faster than normal—no doubt due to the excessive amounts of rain the day before. Many of the trees and shrubs normally on the banks of the creek were now definitively submerged in the rising water.

I stopped at the post office where I picked up a priority mail flat rate box. I’d need it to ship my laptop ahead to Daleville. On the way back to the motel, I stopped for lunch at Taco Bell, then resupplied my food at Food City.

I got back to the hotel before any rain started—but in hindsight, that wasn’t much of an accomplishment because it never did rain today. I was a little disappointed when I realized I had “squandered” my zero day on a day that didn’t rain a drop and spent my zero day hiking all day in the pouring rain. Argh! Stupid weather would not cooperate!

In any case, once I got back to the motel, I stayed there for the rest of the day and evening working on this blog, but did take a break to watch a little TV and relax.

But for the most part, nothing really noteworthy happened today. Not a very exciting post!

Walking into town, it didn’t look like rain was imminent, but I knew weather forecasts predicted rain later in the afternoon and planned my day around that assumption.

The old train station is now a collection of businesses like for getting your hair done or taxes filed. The businesses weren’t interesting, but the train station was adorable. =)

Spring blooms near the local courthouse.

A mural in downtown Marion.

I was really curious about this store, but it was closed when I arrived so I could only look through the windows. A Bruce Manor art gallery? I’d never heard of such a thing! (See my reflection of me taking this photo in the window?)