Author: Calum Johnson

Lately I feel like I’ve let the blog down. Due to higher mileage days, my time is either taken up by hiking or sleeping. Doing a blog, reading my book, and washing clothes has all taken a toll. This post won’t make up for it either, but at least it’ll be something. 

Since my last post I’ve completed Pennsylvania, walked through both New Jersey and New York, and now I’m in Connecticut. By the time I do another post I’ll be in Massachusetts for sure. It would be impossible to tell all the details, but here I’ll try and give some highlights.

Upon crossing New Jersey I saw four bears in one day, I haven’t seen any since. New Jersey was not what I expected, the views were very nice and it felt good to get away from all the farmland of Pennsylvania. I guess it’s not all just jersey shore. New York had some character to it. The rocks seemed to get a bit better, but you’d come across random steep up hills. This made for tiresome miles and prompted a zero, my first since Harper’s Ferry. So far Connecticut is awesome. Well groomed trails and good elevation profiles. I also noticed some nice swimming holes in my guide book. Sounds like a good place for a mid day siesta. These have become important due to increasing temperatures and higher humidity than I’m used to. 

Through the second half of Pennsylvania and all of NJ and NY I was with Deadwood and Echo. Now though I’m on my own. Hiking in a group changes a lot of things. It’s really nice to end the day with friends, but sometimes I felt like I could have gone further. I’ll see them again for a while on and off. 

Currently I’m in Cornwall Bridge CN, dodging some bad weather. Soon I’ll be in Massachusetts though. Man have these last states gone by fast!

As in, I hate everything about it because my feet hurt so bad.


I’m now in Wind Gap, and tomorrow should be my last full day of Pennsylvania. As of Duncannon I’ve been hiking with Deadwood and Echo. Echo started in early April so has been doing significantly larger miles than both Deadwood and I, but this is good as I’d like to hike faster the second half. For instance, my new record day is now 30.4 miles. We’ve toyed at breaking 40, but that’d be insane (probably start hiking at 4 am). 

It’s quite late and I need my sleep, so I’m going to put some photos up with small captions, sorry for such a short post.

So I don’t have a lot of time or a computer to do this on, but I knew I had to give a quick update. Spending six days in DC completely remove me from the trail. When I got back on, I didn’t know anyone. This was all right, but different than in the beginning. Back then, no one knew anyone. We were all in the same boat. Now I’m the only one not in the loop.

This was only an issue immediately past Harpers Ferry. It didn’t take long before I started knowing some people. And just last night, I found Deadwood. We’ve been hiking on and off together for a while now. He was slowed down when his wife joined him in the Shenandoahs. 

My plan is to continue pushing larger miles so I can catch up to some other people. Portuguese for instance is only two days ahead. At the same time, I need to make sure I don’t hurt myself. The rocks here in Pennsylvania are starting to get bad, and I’m not even in the part that people say is really terrible.

Currently I’m in the Doyle. It’s an old, rundown hotel, and the only reason I’m staying is because it’s famous in thru hiker culture. The first floor has a bar and a small kitchen. There’s also a pool table. Above that you climb up three rickety stairways to get to your room. There’s no frills, and I was a bit unsure if the sheets were washed. I didn’t see signs of bed bugs, and that’s the really important thing. I also wore my crocs in the shower. The views from my window this morning were awesome though. Overall, it’s the best dive I’ve stayed in. 

The next few days are a bit of a mystery. The elevation changes aren’t bad, but the terrain could prevent me from doing the larger miles. I also won’t be staying in many towns as there aren’t many great places to stop. In warmer weather this isn’t much of an issue, as laundry can just air dry. I have no idea when or where the next post will be, so sit tight.

-Orion

So I’m back in Harpers Ferry right now. I couldn’t find any trains that stopped here and left before 3, so I just gave up on getting any miles done today. Instead I’m staying at the Harpers Ferry Hostel, about 2 miles down the trail from the train station. I expected complete chaos and not knowing anyone else here, I even made sure to reserve a bunk for tonight. Upon arrival I was surprised to see that I’d be sharing the entire hostel with just 4 others. It’s not that I don’t like meeting tons of new people, but peace and quiet is appreciated as well.

When I first got to my Aunt and Uncles house I was asked if I would care to join my Uncle and Cousin in a weekly meetup of Pathfinder (think D&D if you don’t know what that is). I very excitedly joined them and it was a little odd. Not because of the role-playing or being a geek, I love that stuff. But rather that I hadn’t thought about it since I left home. It made me actually miss being at home with my friends, playing magic, going to drafts, talking about table top games. Being on the trail has completely removed me from all of that. I guess it was the first time I really felt homesick. After staying up well past hiker midnight (9 pm), I was ready for some sleep.

The next day I wanted to take care of all the chores I had. Get my laundry done and ready for a treatment of permethrine. Permethrine is just an insecticide that when applied to clothes keeps bugs off you. It works really well, and it’s just about to be bug season. In fact I did find a tick on me here, luckily it hadn’t latched on yet so I wasn’t too concerned. Still, I mailed it to the free tick testing place, they like to get the data and I like to know if it had any tickborne diseases. I recommend checking them out: http://www.bayarealyme.org/lyme-disease-prevention/tick-testing/.

After this we all went to my other Aunt and Uncle’s house in Fairfax VA. There we had a delicious meal of salmon, roasted potatoes, and coleslaw. The salmon was perfectly cooked, and they also opened a really good bottle of stout, one of my favorite types of beer. Afterwards we watched two episodes of the original “Get Smart”. I like my family.

The next day Rick and I went to the National Gallery. There was so much to see, that I felt I should go back the next day. Gazing at such important works of art was definitely not what I expected while on the AT. Another thing I didn’t expect was going out to see the symphony. That night my Aunt and Uncle took me to see the National Philharmonic. They performed two pieces by Brahms as well as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony Pathetique. It was an awesome performance and made me really miss playing trombone.

Like I said, I felt like one day at the gallery just wasn’t enough. I had to go back the next day to see more. I was by myself this time and took one of the self guided audio tours. Learning about some of the more historic pieces was a lot of fun. At times I saw pieces that reminded me of works done by my great grandfather, Theodore Johnson. That was a really cool experience. Afterwards I took the metro back to Greenbelt and was picked up to go to a rib dinner. A half rack later I was extremely content. I surprised myself how easily it all went down, the hiker hunger is real!

Like I mentioned earlier, today I just did the 2 miles or so from the station to the hostel. Tomorrow I’ll be doing a bigger day to make up for the loss, and before I know it I’ll be done with Maryland. It only makes up about 40 miles of the AT, but I’ve been told it’s an extremely historic section. Monuments and plaques that signify major battles of the civil war line the trail. Honestly, it’s an area of U.S. history I’m a little rusty on, so hopefully I’ll learn something new.

Well it’s time I get to bed. I didn’t think I’d be doing this post but having such a nice computer at the hostel just made it so easy. Until next time,

-Orion

So here I am, relaxing at my Aunt and Uncles house in Greenbelt MD. It’s really nice having all the comforts of home. A ride to the REI let me resupply and I got some smaller pants. Tomorrow we’ll be driving to another Aunt and Uncle who live in Virginia, sounds like we’re having ribs! Spending several zeros here will give me a break like no other I’ve had. Sure, I have zeroed in the past, but there’s still lots that needs to be done, and I haven’t had wifi like this since home.

It’s been a while since I last posted. Since then I’ve done the Shenandoah’s, stayed at my favorite hostel, and reached the psychological half way point (still numerically not quite there). I also said goodbye to a great friend Soccrosse. He was picked up in Harpers Ferry, the northern end to Virginia. It was his plan to only do the Virginia section, but we joked about him going all the way. I’m sure he is happy to get back on his sleep number bed.

After my zero in Waynesboro, Soccrosse and I left in a drizzle. The self-registration was no issue, and we made a quick plan of how long it would take us to get through the Shenandoah’s. Six days was our estimate, which ended up being what it took. Being in the Shenandoah’s was a bit like the Smokies. I expected this, as it is another national park. Day hikers and section hikers make up the majority of the trail through here. Another difference is the amount of wildlife. Deer are often seen near camp in the evenings, and I saw a total of three bears. It’s clear why this land was designated as a National Park.

It is true what people say about the Shenandoah’s. Overall, the trail is easier than other sections of the AT. This meant that larger days were less of a burden and it also gave us more time at waysides. Waysides are basically just small restaurants of varying quality. One had draft beer and another was more like a snack shack at a High School football game. As long as they had blackberry milkshakes I was happy. Except for the day I felt very sick after hiking again after lunch, that wasn’t too great.

After the beginning drizzle and some rain that night, the weather did clear up. It actually go hot, at least by my standards. I’m used to Santa Cruz, so anything above 80 and I complain. Add humidity and I’m useless. Unfortunately, that’s what I get to look forward to this summer. Hot and humid, the worst combination of weather.

Getting out of the Shenandoah’s I stayed at the Front Royal Terrapin Hostel. It’s not actually in Front Royal proper, rather down a .5 mile side trail to some guys basement. It wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t great. The price was right however, and he does include a shuttle to an awesome grocery store.

After Front Royal, Soccrosse suggested we stay at the Bear’s Den Hostel. It would make two 20 mile days and leave another 20 or two awkward short days before Harpers Ferry. For these reasons I didn’t think it would be a good stop, but as he pointed out, they do have Ben and Jerry’s. I was easily talked into it and I am so glad I went. Bear’s Den was built in the 1930’s as a retreat home for wealthy Washingtonians. It’s also a literal castle. Yes, 12″ thick stone walls and everything. It was also clean, had a good hiker special, and a piano! So I serenaded everyone as best I could, and it was graciously received. This is definitely my favorite hostel thus far, surpassing Top of Georgia which was all the way back in Hiawassee.

The next day, rather than leave the hostel Soccrosse and I decided to slackpack. Slackpacking is where you borrow a day pack and only take food and water and then get a shuttle back to where you started that morning. What we did was take a shuttle to Harpers Ferry in the morning and then just walk back to the Hostel. This was really fun and a good last day of Virginia. I was very surprised how easy the 20 miles were, having no pack makes an enormous difference.

After slackpacking we just needed a second shuttle to Harpers Ferry. That day we spent looking at all of the historic plaques, and I stopped by the ATC headquarters. There I got my photo placed in a binder which will be on record. So if you’re ever in Harpers Ferry, you can find me in the 2016 one.

From Harpers Ferry I took an Amtrak to D.C.. It was very hectic getting off in union station. There were so many people, everyone was rushing, it was chaos. Finally I got my bearings and figured out the Metro, then I met my Uncle Rick in Greenbelt. And that’s that. I’ll be here for the next few days and then it’s back to the trail for me. I’m curious to see if I become antsy taking this time off. Regardless, I’ve been looking forward to it.

 

It’s been a while since I last posted, so there’s too much to do a day to day type post. Instead it’s going to be a general overview and a story involving a bear (don’t worry I’m fine).

I may have mentioned this before, but both March and April I was very fortunate with the weather. Unfortunately, May hasn’t been that way. Most days it’s quite dreary, and rain is always a concern. It definitely makes me appreciate the infrequent sunny days. On the bright side, fog is nice hiking weather. The cool air keeps my core temp down and I don’t overheat much. This makes the long uphills nicer, until I get to the top and find that there isn’t any view due to fog. It’s fine though, there are many views along the AT.

Foul weather also means I keep my phone in a Ziplock somewhere in my pack. I’ve thought about upgrading my phone case to a waterproof one, that way you all can see that I do indeed get bad weather. I hope you don’t think it’s just sunshine and rainbows. It’s not. In fact, I’ve realized that in my blogs I neglect to mention the bad times. Memory has a funny way of drowning out the bad parts and amplifying the good. Like the day I had a migraine weeks ago. Or when I was constipated from too much cheese. It wouldn’t make terribly good blog material anyways.

So, story time. My first incident with a bear! First a little background. It was about three in the afternoon and I decided to stop for lunch at a shelter. What ended up being just a break after 10 miles ended up being my final destination that night. It wasn’t because I couldn’t keep going, but rain started up and the shelter was just so nice and dry. Lord of the Rings seemed much nicer to read than to live. Fast forwards to maybe 6ish and two women section hiking show up to the shelter. They together made the shelter full. Four thru-hikers and them. I could tell they were a tad less experienced for they wanted me to show them how to hang a bear bag. I was happy to help demonstrate and showed them what’s known as the PCT method. This bear hang is infallible if done correctly, so it’s what I use. The one problem is you need to use a branch that is at least 20′ high, for the bag drops down about a third the way when finished. They opted for a shorter branch close to the shelter and used a method where you just tie the loose end to a tree. This method is the most common on the AT and bears can cut the line (at least in California where bears may be more intelligent?). In my mind, I didn’t think the bag was high enough. Rather than being that guy who is a stickler for everything, I held my tongue.

So we go to bed and all is good in the world. I should have mentioned that there was a campsite five miles further than this shelter where they saw a bear earlier in the day (they were southbound). We thought we would be ok and the bear would stay in that area, turns out if followed them towards our shelter. I woke up at about 3 a.m. to Deadwood yelling at something “Hey! Hey! Get out of here!”. I bolted up in my sleeping bag to see what was happening. To late, the bear had scurried off with bag in mouth. Apparently a few people had heard someone eating. They thought it was just someone having a midnight snack. It was, but it wasn’t until they heard a ripping noise they thought it was a bear. Deadwood was the first to get his headlamp out. This is all second hand for I was fast asleep.

Unfortunately the bear got away with a food bag. This really sucks because bears should be afraid of people. Once they get food from hikers, that association is only strengthened, and eventually they need to be relocated or eventually put down.

That morning we found all other food bags to be safe and intact. I had to help the other section hiker put her food bag on my bear hang that night, but there were some punctures in her food. Luckily it was my last day to get into Glasgow, so Deadwood, Spongebob, and I were able to give away our food. The section hikers were so kind about the whole thing and thanked us much. Tenderfoot even mailed food to us, so I think I should really be thanking her! She left a note in the mail drop which I will keep with all my other AT memorabilia. Surely something I won’t ever forget!

Right now I’m on the doorstep of the Shenandoah National Park, land of many cheeseburgers and milkshakes (and daywalkers). I would normally be leaving tomorrow for my body doesn’t need a zero day yet, but heavy rain is expected. It sucks to get soaked the first day, so a zero may be in order. I’m sharing a room with a new friend, Soccrosse. He’s doing all of Virginia, what is known as a LASH (long ass section hike). He’s a bit older than me and has many valuable tales to tell. His friend and former coworker Paul was on the trail for a bit of this last stretch and it was great to get to hang out with them both. I’ve really enjoyed the company of more experienced folk, many life lessons to be learned!

I have often heard Virginia be talked about like it’s un-scenic, boring, and lacks views. Honestly, I completely disagree. Yes, there are times when all I see is the green on trees and plants and a brown trail. But every so often amazing views come by. Even without the views Virginia is scenic. There are insects, snakes, and you can always hear the birds singing. For these reasons, I find Virginia to be an amazing part of the Appalachian Trail.

The weather after the Captain’s definitely improved. I still got hail, and intermittent rain wasn’t uncommon. But there was never anything quite like the first day out of Pearisburg. Even the thunder storm on the last day wasn’t that bad. A sustained rain is the worst possible weather. I think I’d rather have snow. Yes, it is extremely cold. But you just put on a few more layers, and you’ll stay dry. It’s getting wet that’s dangerous. Also when it’s dry you can have your camera out to take amazing photos. I hate giving up on good photos just because my phone is buried deep down in my backpack.

The first day leaving the Captain’s, I didn’t quite make it back to my intended schedule out of Pearisburg. I got a very late start because I was trying to dry my tent. That morning it was sunny which it hadn’t been for a while before. This meant that I got to camp rather late. I prefer not doing this, it’s never fun throwing up bear bags in the dark.

The next morning I felt good. I had planned a 22.5 mile day, definitely on my bigger side. In fact it was only half a mile below my record at the time. Everything was going just fine, it looked like I would’ve made it. What happened was there was trail magic. And I’m so glad that I got magic. It wasn’t a church, or any other organization with some other agenda. Just a bunch of friends, some of them triple crowners, that just love giving back. It also happens to be Mother’s Day. I had no cell reception, and they offered to give a message to my mom. I don’t know what they said, but my mom said she liked the message. It was also definitely the best trail magic so far. They had coffee from Starbucks, a tank of hot water for washing my face, Dutch oven’s with delicious casseroles and nachos. It was overwhelming how much food they had. I happily lingered for several hours and settled on only doing one more mile that day rather than nine. I did not cook dinner later that night.

After that trail magic, I gave up on catching up to my original plan. Again, not an issue since I always pack a little extra food. I would just be out of tortillas, no biggie. That there was a lot of Ridge walking. Not too many long ups and downs, but still quite strenuous. I found myself scrambling over rocks and walking across slanted trails. This really wore in my shoes. More holes were starting to form near my toes and I was very glad to be getting a new pair in Daleville. That’s the night I stopped at Four Pines Hostel. It’s just the a three bay garage with a bunch of couches and cots in the middle. There’s no price but donations or gladly excepted. They had this game, I can’t remember the name,  but essentially you’re throwing beanbags into plywood boards with holes in them. I wasn’t very good at it but I definitely want to bring it back to Coho. Overall, it was a really nice place. The people were friendly and they had a relaxed atmosphere.

The morning I set off to McAfee knob. This is the most photographed section of the entire Appalachian Trail, or so they say. I can believe it, I definitely took a lot of photos. About 15 minutes before I pulled into the shelter that night, a large thunderstorm rolled in. When I started looking at the register, many people were talking about bear encounters there. Several people got their food bag stolen, and the bear definitely did not seem to be bothered by their presence. There was even a small bit of a torn up Term-a-rest. The bear and the thunderstorm were my reasons for pushing on that night. I didn’t want to deal with my stuff getting wet, and the bear really didn’t sound like fun. It was about a 9 mile push and made my day 26 miles. Luckily I left early enough such that I didn’t have to walk in the dark. I also walked that section with another hiker who wanted to push, so if the shit really hit the fan there would be someone else for help. The thunderstorm passed pretty quickly, so we weren’t really in any danger. Still, it was on exposed Ridgeline and I wouldn’t want to be there if another one rolled in.

I got to Daleville at about 8 PM, got my hotel room, and went to the closest restaurant, Pizza Hut. It wasn’t great, but calories are calories. Today I ended up zeroing, so I’ll be nice and rested after such a long day. Daleville is a nice town. I’d say it had the best grocery store on the AT. A large selection and many things they cooked in house. They also have a good beer selection, a huge plus.

My next major resupply is going to be in Waynesboro. I may not have a good connection before then, so it could be a while before you hear from me again. It’s roughly 140 miles from here, also right before Shenandoah National Park. I’ll be doing a resupply before then, but probably not staying in any towns.

Until then,

-Orion

So this post is going to be a little bit different than usual. Because of the rain lately, I don’t have many photos to share with you all. There also isn’t much to talk about, considering I was just in town two days ago. However, I am camped next to a house with Wi-Fi, so I thought I would take advantage of it and do a little post.

The day coming out of Pearisburg was very wet and cold. Polar bear and Justice both decided not to go out that day. In fact, very few people left Pearisburg that day. Luckily, getting a hitch back to the trailhead didn’t end up taking that long. I figured that a hiker standing in the pouring rain would either be a benefit, or keep people away from picking me up. Seems like it helped. Once back on the trail, I followed some highways over a wide river. It wasn’t until passing a large factory that I got back into the forest. The trail climbed for a while out of the valley where Pearisburg lay. Once on the ridgeline the trail hit the first shelter. I only planned on having lunch here, but after I was cold and wet I decided it would be safer just to stay. This ended up being a good decision for the rain kept on all during the night.

This morning the rain wasn’t quite as bad, but the wind was still strong. This led to my morning hike still being cold. For the first hour I couldn’t feel my hands. My torso and legs were still warm, so I wasn’t worried. After my morning coffee and oatmeal break, the trail followed another ridgeline. This continued for roughly 10 miles until I started to drop down into the next valley. Rather than push on and make it to my projected campsite, I decided to stop short and stay at the Captains.

So, what exactly is the captains? About 30 yards off the Appalachian Trail, and across a river, there’s a man who opens his backyard to through hikers. He has a large lawn where you can put your tent, and if it’s raining you can go on his back porch. Getting across the river was also quite interesting. There is a strange zip line pulley contraption thing that you clip your pack to and sit on. Unfortunately, due to the recent rains the river is about two feet higher than I believe it normally is. This meant my feet dragged through the water. Thankfully, Deadwood, the only other hiker here was able to document it for me.

Due to my slower start out of Pearisburg, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to Daleville in five total nights. This is fine though because I always carry an extra days worth of food than planed. Hopefully these next few days I’ll be able to keep my phone out of my Ziploc bag. That way I can have more photos from the trail.

I’m here in Marion VA with Ptarmigan and Tetris. We’ve been meeting up at shelters for a while, I guess our pace matches well. The Grayson Highlands have been amazing here on the AT. It’s been a treat walking amongst wild ponies. Although I must say wild is a bit of a stretch. They are very familiar with people. As you approach them they usualy come up to you smelling your pockets for food. Sometimes they lick your arms and back, I’m assuming for salt in my sweat. I like to think of them basically as giant dogs that sit around and eat grass. 

The ponies weren’t the only great thing of the highlands, the views were pretty stunning too.

Another cool thing about The Grayson Highlands was that we passed the 500 mile mark. It was only 30 miles past Damascus, but it still felt like a big achievement. 
After the highlands we dropped into another nice deciduous forest. The trails were easy going, but there were some sections with bad rocks. The last day we decided to do a 23 mile push to partnership shelter. It was only .2 miles away from the Mount Rogers visitor center, where we ordered pizza for delivery. This was my first day over 20 miles, but I think it was well worth it in the end. This morning we went to the visitor center and caught a bus into Marion. It’s not a typical transit route, you have to call an hour ahead to let them know you want to be picked up. Today was spent mostly consuming food we can’t get out on the trail. Things like fruits, rotisserie chicken, and milkshakes. We also made gin and tonics.

I’ve really enjoyed Virginia so far. Unfortunately the highlands are pretty unique. People often referrer to Virginia as the green tunnel at this point. Hopefully it doesn’t get me down that much, so far everything’s been great. My next resupply will be in Bland Virginia, about three days away. Keeping resupplies so close is a good way to keep pack weight down, but I don’t aim on staying in town. I wouldn’t mind keeping the pace up a bit. 

Until next time,

-Orion

So it’s late right now so this is probably going to be pretty short. I got to Virginia, which was pretty cool. Virginia is thought of sometimes as this big wall that thru-hikers need to climb over. It’s in this state that most people lose the honeymoon phase with the trail and get what’s called the Virginia blues. I’m under the impression that it isn’t so much of something about the state, but rather the fact that a quarter of the AT is in Virginia. Rather than thinking of progress in therms of miles they might think of it in states completed. We have three down and only eleven to go, that sort of thing. I’m trying to not think of completion in these terms, but rather in time. I’ve been here for six weeks now, and a typical thru-hike takes six months. So I’m about a quarter the way done, even if I’ve only walked 470 miles.

Coming into Damascus wasn’t so bad. I mostly followed a ridge line so the terrain was relatively flat. This meant that I could really cram in those miles. Although I was having a lot of problems with blisters. My heels, pinkies, and then the sole of my foot under my arch. The strange part is that I never had these issues before, only in the last week or so. Hopefully the culprit was a worn out insole and super feet will fix it.

 

 

Today I took a zero. This allowed my feet to heal up and it also gave me ample time to do a resupply. Tetris and I shared a room at Dave’s Place, a hostel like place with private rooms. Instead of beds we just get wooden platforms where you put your therm-a-rest, but the price is unbeatable. $21 a night for the two of us. This includes a shower but there was no laundry. For that we went to Crazy Lary’s, another hostel. Next door there is a thrift shop so I spent $2 on some town clothes. That way I could wash everything I own and not have to be naked under my rain gear. On my way out of town I’ll just donate them back.

Dinner was the real treat. A mile down a dirt trail next to the road there is the Damascus brewery. They don’t have any food, just 8 beers on tap. This wasn’t an issue, I just walked in with a large pizza from across the way. Ptarmigan and I shared this and enjoyed our time with some thru-hikers of last year. They were here doing trail magic for the current thru’s. It was awesome talking to them and getting advice on different parts of the trail. Apparently I have to find a good group of people and rent a car in Massachusetts, and then drive to six flags. It sounded like an awesome break from the trail.

 

 

 

 

This next section goes into the Grayson Highlands, a favorite part for many thru-hikers. I hear there are feral ponies, so I’m quite excited. As for my next resupply I’m not entirely sure. Probably head into Marion in 60 miles or push another day into Atkins. Marion has more to offer but I always like to push on a little further. Depending on my cell coverage I may post earlier, but it’s about four or five days away.

Until next time,

-Orion