The Peeps
I hesitate to put Mooch in the backblast, but technically he did show up for the Standard (late) and for the Ruck (late) and did something (presumably). Same goes for Team Rocket (no relation to Pokemon), consisting of Mort, PT, and 8-Mile, who showed up but only to run.
FNG-1 is Nature boy, Noah Satterfield, a recent graduate of Davidson college.
FNG-2 (in picture) is Kennedy Manyika, a senior at UNCC.
The Thang
The picture of Duvall says it all. If you haven't seen it I encourage you to find it on the Twitter, it will be worth the inundation of distracting headlines.
We started off heading east on Davidson Concord, trying to figure out the back way into Davidson college, via Grey Rd and the old Erwin Lodge. As we passed Duvall's house, Jolly says, "I think Duvall lives here." YHC confirmed that was the case. Jolly proceeds to walk up to the front door, but rather than knocking, steals a large folding chair off of the front porch. Why? As a coupon.
We turn onto Grey Rd and Jolly starts to wonder, "was that really Duvall's house or did I steal a chair from a stranger? And why did I steal a chair as a coupon less than 1 mile into a 4 mile Ruck? This was a terrible idea." Then in the distance we see a slender, elegant figure walking up the hill toward us. I double take and am about to tell Jolly it looks like Duvall, but I'm thinking there's no way. We finally get close enough to see that it is indeed- Duvall. Shocking. How does the saying go- good from far, but far from good?
Duvall is winded after multiple blows from the hills of Grey Rd, but manages to stumble toward us with a big smile on his face. He finally gets close enough to see that Jolly is carrying something, and a look of bewilderment slowly creeps across his face. Yes, the same look you are used to seeing on Duvall. "Wait, what? What is that? Is that my chair!?" Suddenly bewilderment turns to gratitude and excitement. Jolly places the chair down IN THE MIDDLE OF GREY RD and mumbles something about Duvall looking like he might need a rest.
Duvall looked like a farmer at sundown in August, sitting in a pool of sweat, envisioning that glass of ice cold lemonade. Happy as a clam.
The ruck eventually continued on. We found the back door to Davidson. We saw the old lodge, the ROTC course, the pond behind Davidson farm, and many other rare Davidson landmarks. But our hearts were stuck way back in that moment on Grey Rd., where Duvall was never happier that a special someone had been kind enough to steal his chair.