Pine Knob
Today was an easy day for me. I didn't cover very many miles and the terran was very flat.
I walked through numerous old battle sites with signs explaining the strategies used and people involved.
That was the first of many highlights of the day. Next I came across a backpacker's campground maintained by the State of Maryland. What was so nice about this was that there was a bathroom with hot showers for free. A
couple miles earlier I had found a towel in the trail that seemed clean so I even had something to dry off with. I washed the sweat and grime off and rinsed some of my clothes and felt much refreshed. Someone had left behind a suspense novel called "Tell No One" which I picked up to read.
One reason the shower may be there is so people can clean off before getting to the elegant "South Mountain Inn" resturant .2 miles farther up. 
They have a sunday brunch buffet of which I partook in heavily. The food was great! I had fresh salad, a cream and brocolie dish, french toast, roasted potatos, scambeled eggs, yummy corn chowder, and finally a shockingly tasty forest fruit Pie I wished I had saved more room for. Being a thru hiker I often attract attention and this was no different being the only one in a tee shirt. A couple, Joan and Carlton Penn, at a nearby table stuck up a conversation with me and we ended up talking for an hour about the trail and their lives. She is from NH so I got info about what is like up there and he was a NC native who used to be a judge and at one point owned some of the land the AT current goes over.
Joan knew a lot Inn building which predates the civil war and has seen and been part of a immpressive amount of history. It is surrounded by battle sites.
We went our ways and next I came to Washington Monument State Park. In the park was a very helpful civil war reenactor who I watched and spoke with for about two hours. I learned a lot about how union soldiers would eat and live while on the march. I have to say todays soldiers have it much better simply by the fact their shelters are long enough to cover thier legs. The food looked pretty good though.
An amusing demostration was the young boy of a family who came to watch was dressed in the full garb that a solider would be exspected to wear and carry. The clothes were far too big and gear heavy making for a silly scene.
I found out a shebang is a french designed shelter that two soldiers carry that involves poles and canvas cloth. Know you too know what the "Whole Shebang" is. From the demostration I could see in rain it work rather poorly as shelter for people.
Ironicly it started raining and with that I decided it was time to make some more miles. I passed Washington Monument or rather the first Monument to George Washington. It was an odd monument being a three story tall stone tower with a spiraled stone stairs inside leading to a viewing area up top. From what I hear it first was built in two days to celibrate July 4th in 1827. It had been rebuilt a couple times finally with concrete. The view was great at the top though the air was filled with haze.
The trail for the rest of the day was busy with lots of holiday hikers. The shelter has a crowd of people too but there is just enough space in the shelter for anyone who isn't setting up a tent. The only thing that is a problem here is I can hear the highway and a drag raceing strip nearby. Oh well.
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