Living Water

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
-John 4:10

Lately, the Lord has really been talking to me about carrying living water to the thirsty. Jesus teaches us that the greater need of man kind is always spiritual, not physical. For example, healing is for a temporary body, but salvation is forever.  Food satisfies a man for a couple hours, but the Word of God breathes eternal life into a man's soul. I remember one day on the trail, I was walking along and I asked God why he had sent me out here.  His response was simple, because I was finally willing to carry living water. No more will I ever see just the physical needs of a person. Deep within every one of us is a soul that longs to be satisfied, and if all I give to a man is a meal it won't mean much. But when Jesus said to that woman he had living water that she wouldn't thirst any more, he wasn't talking about H2O. He was speaking of the relationship we can have with Father God.

It's interesting that passage of scripture shares with us that she had many husbands. I don't think she had so many husbands because she enjoyed the vicious cycle of heart break and remarriage. I think it's because she was looking for something in those relationships that only Father God could provide. This living water isn't a fictitious concept, it's the idea that an obedient relationship with God can satisfy our deepest longings and questions concerning life. As long as one searches for meaning, purpose, and ultimate satisfaction in the things of this world, they will depend on material and finite objects. This is why atheism looks so appealing. It appears that you can build upon the scaffolding of atheism any life you choose, but in the end it does not hold up to life's most important questions. When we look to God, who is love, we find the arms of compassion. We find that we have ultimate meaning and ultimate purpose imprinted within each one of us. His living water is the catalyst to take a less than perfect person, and make them whole again.

This act of carrying living water is something I will take home with me. It's an area of growth that Dawn and I have both experienced. Neither one of us want to be an empty vessel again. Wherever God puts us, we will take his living water.

Day 53-60

Day 53 0-miles 05-22-14

Comfort inn Troutville, VA

It has been a good day to take a zero day. It's in the mid 80's outside and humid as can be. This morning we woke around 7:45am and moseyed down to breakfast. We dined on sausage, eggs, donuts, and waffles. Basically all the food we wish was available on trail but isn't. On the way back to the room, I grabbed a news paper and topped off my coffee. At this point, we settled in for a relaxing morning of sipping coffee and reading. It was nice to feel civilized again. I've been expecting new shoes for a week and today's the day I'm supposed to get them. As I'm checking the UPS tracking status, I learn that bad weather will delay them a day. After working there for almost six years, I know these things happen but it's not fun when they happen to you. Then, at noon the front desk calls and my shoes had arrived!! It will be so nice to hike in footwear that breathe, instead of leather sauna boots. Around 2:00pm, we ventured across the street to dollar general to get some glue to fix Dawns hiking pole and a shoe string for her boot. As we were walking back we see a man run out of a Polaris dealership building scream, flap his arms, and run back in. This warrants an investigation. It turns out, it was just a salesman having a boring day, but on the plus side they did let us ride around on a four wheeler in the parking lot. After some fun on four wheels, we got back to our room and vegetated to some TV. In my opinion, TV is among the least rewarding things on earth. I've walked away from sitting in front of a TV having felt I had accomplished nothing. But none the less, it was nice to have an easy afternoon. One really cool thing did happen today though, as I sat in the lobby on the computer, Dawn had gone upstairs to shower and I was alone, an older man walked Into the lobby with a limp and I felt The Lord say to go pray for him. What? So I go out to his car and help him and his wife carry their luggage up and I pray for him. Less than 30-mins later, he calls my room to tell me that he is walking around with no limp and pain free! God is so good! As we finished up our zero day, I talked on the phone with some family and friends, took an Epsom salt bath, and got ready for bed. Overall, it's been a pretty perfect zero day. Life goes easy.

Day 54 18.5-miles 05-23-14

Comfort inn-Bobblets shelter

It's always a treat to wake up and not have a war with gnats first thing in the morning. We didn't get around to leaving the hotel until 11:30am, and it was so nice to have a slow morning. I even had a chance to reapply tick repellent to our shoes before heading out. Not to long ago, I found a tick crawling on my leg. It's the only one we've seen on us, and I largely attribute that to our liberal use of permatherm. The trail today was fairly easy with some pretty good climbs. The climbs took us higher in elevation which will mean cooler sleeping tonight. Tomorrow we know of a "hiker feed" 24-miles from where we are staying tonight. These "hiker feeds" are generally put together by a group of past thru-hikers who want to give back. Dawn and I have talked about how cool it would be to come back next year and setup our own "hiker feed." Today just before camp, we came across some coolers stocked with soda and little Debbie snacks. Not only does it boost moral, but the impending sugar rush is always welcomed. We also started the Blue Ridge Parkway today. It's a scenic road that winds across Virginia's best views. The only negative is that we constantly cross it which means getting used to looking both ways for cars. In 90-miles or so we'll hike skyline drive, it's another scenic road, but we've heard that it has lots of snack stands and little stores. That's means we'll have constant access to food and air conditioning. My new shoes are awesome! I joked with Dawn that even though they say "all terrain" on them their favorite terrain to traverse is the floor board of a car. That joke doesn't look very funny having just typed it out, but earlier it was hilarious. It's the little things that mean the most out here.

Day 55 24-miles 05-24-14

Bobblets shelter-Thunder hill shelter

We've hiked what seems to be every type of trail Virginia has to offer today. Anything from long smooth down hills, insane uphills, ultra nice smooth flats, and at one point we climbed boulders. We left camp at 7:45am and we had decided to take very few breaks. By 1:00pm we had already knocked out 14-miles. Just after lunch a sad thing happened, I rolled my right ankle and bit the dust pretty hard. Dawn was so nice to come help me up and dust me off. It was pretty tender the rest of the day, but we still pushed on to make it to the hiker feed. Just before the feed, we peaked a mt with some kind of geometric dome. Turns out it's an FAA radar. When we got to the feed it was basically over, but the lady coordinating it asked if we would hang around until tomorrow. After all the tales of how good it was, I doubt if we'll hike on until we get some of her great cooking. We did hang out at the feed until 7:30 or so. The AT is so different from normal life. Sometimes you have to frequently change plans, and we've learned that's not a bad thing. Tomorrow should be a great day.

Day 56 17-miles 05-25-14

Thunder hill shelter-Johns Hollow

The hiker feed turned out to be awesome!! We planned to stick around after we heard so much good about it, so we took an easy morning and didn't wake up until 8:30 am, and then sat around until 11:00am reading and slowly making breakfast. When we walked up to the feed it hadn't started yet, but two guys we had met previously were already sitting and waiting. One guy know as Honey Bear who has long red hair and a wild beard had started the festivities by foraging for what we could come to know as "yarrow root" (I spelled that phonetically so it could be wrong).  He had his shirt pockets jammed full of the stuff, and every time some one would walk up he would pull some out and offer. The benefit of this root is that when you chew it your mouth goes numb. To my surprise he actually got several people to indulge. It was almost bizarre to watch as people took dirty roots from this guys shirt pocket and chewed it to see if their mouth really went numb. I've been pondering to sociological aspect of this ever since it happened. Was it blind trust or the communal adventurous spirit of thru hiking that got people to eat this stuff? I haven't decided. None the less, Dawn and I politely declined the mouth numbing root. However, we did stuff ourselves with every dish that was made. This ranged from cheese cake to ziti to Tator-tot casserole. It was a feast to behold. At 3:00pm we decided to push on despite the fact there was more food to come. We ended up night hiking the last 4-miles. One cool thing about this being Memorial Day weekend is that all the weekend backpackers that come out. Right as we started night hiking, a family offered us some Starbucks coffee. He said it was good, but that was an understatement. This was French press Starbucks brand coffee. Basically as good as it gets when your back in the woods, or at home for that matter. With a cup of super charged coffee we hiked the last bit in the dark. By the way, night hiking is no fun. Way to many spider webs and way to big a chance to miss a shelter and end up walking who knows how much further to a campsite. But we made it to camp around 10:30pm. I setup the tent as fast as possible and we ate tortilla shells with peanut butter for dinner. It's been a long day, but well worth it.

Day 57 18-miles 05-26-14

Johns hollow-Brown creek shelter

It's steadily getting warmer and it wouldn't be a stretch to say the cool days of spring have come and gone. We started off our day with a 2500ft climb followed by several more descents and climbs. The views are breath taking, but the climbs are as well. As the old saying goes, anything worth having is worth working for. We did climb one intriguing mountain that was the unfortunate site of a death in 1890. Apparently, a close by school house sent out little 4-year old Ottie Cline Powell one cool fall day to search for fire wood to warm the school. He got lost and never returned. The following spring his body was found on top of Bluff Mountain. Who could have possibly foreseen that a four year old kid would get lost when sent out for fire wood? It's the saddest story I've read all trip. After that mountain, we had lunch at a shelter along the way. The coolest part of today was the peddler river. We decided to jump in since it's been pretty hot. Both of us took our first river bath (with clothes on). Not just rinsing off, but actual scrubbing to get rid of the sweat grime. Afterwords, it was still hot enough that I decided to hike to camp in just compression shorts. I bet I'll be doing that more as it gets hotter along with most of the other hikers. The last two miles into camp were a dream since the trail followed an old road and was as flat as it gets out here. We made double our normal amount of dinners to replace some of the calories we should of had last night. That should make the climbing easier tomorrow since we'll have the energy to do it. Life goes easy.

Day 58 16-miles 05-27-14

Brown creek shelter-Seely shelter

Today we got up a little earlier than normal and got to hiking at 8:00am. From were we camped, it was 2-miles to a road crossing where we could hitch into town and get some supplies and a bite to eat. God always provides and today was no different. As soon as we got to the road another hiker, Hawksbill, was being dropped off by his wife. He lives close to this section of trail so he has been going home at night. She offered to take us into town. Because Dawn still dislikes hitch hiking she was thrilled it happened this way. We made it to town and the kind lady dropped us off at the Food Lion. I was really excited because I had phone service for the first time in several hundred miles, so I got to call a couple friends and see how their life has been. After getting food for the tail, we decided to grab lunch at Hardee's. They had a power-aid option on their fountain drinks which we used to fill up our spare bottles. As soon as we threw a thumb up to head back to the trail we got a ride. I think it's because Dawn is too cute to turn down. This guy was an interesting character, and probably the first one I was careful of when we started driving, but none the less we made it back safe and sound. As a welcome back the trail gave us some huge climbs and hordes of bugs. Eventually, we made it to a drier ridge line and the bugs let up. I'm hoping since it's been a pretty dry spring here the bugs won't last long and Dawn is praying that too. Every time a bug lands on her she goes to war with it. Watching her hike is like watching a one person Kung Fu movie. She is constantly hitting and punching every bug she can. Around 6:30pm, we made it to the shelter. We've gotten pretty efficient at getting water, cooking dinner, and going to bed. It's much faster than when we first started the trail. As a side note it's been far to long since since I've showered and really scrubbed. Everything smells and it probably will till until we finish. Sometimes I think even my hands stink. But that's all in it. Life goes easy.

Day 59 21-miles 05-28-14

Seely shelter-Maupin shelter

A couple rules we've learned about the A.T. are as follows:

1) From where you are, pick the highest point, you'll be climbing that mountain  next. 

2) From the top of what you thought was the highest point pick the new highest point and that's the mountain you'll be climbing next.

Those two rules have proven to be an infallible doctrine of the A.T. today. Don't take it as complaining. Each mountain climb holds it's own reward, and most of the time the trail wraps around the mountain to provide multiple views of each side. They call these hills the Blue Ridge Mountains, and they are so beautiful. This trail is not for the faint of heart, thus the high attrition rate, but it is amazing. God in all his wonder made this incredible land and we get to see it in the best way. Out here we have the opportunity to live so close to God's untouched creation and I'm at a loss for words to tell you how that feels. We made it into camp tonight around 6:45pm. Tomorrow in Waynesborow, VA there is a church hostel that hosts a weekly dinner every Thursday night. The catch is space is limited. We like the people we hike with but not enough to give up a free meal. My wife is pretty slick at getting information. We learned everybody at the shelter planned to wake up around 5:30am to hike the 20-miles into town. We decided to wake up at 4:00am to get a jump. Three hikers even decided to hike further tonight to get a head start. But we are not sure they will wake up early enough to maintain there spot in the front. Either way, we'll give it our best shot to get into town early. Life goes easy.

Day 60 21-miles 05-29-14

Maupin shelter-Waynesborrow, VA

When our alarms went off this morning at 4:00am is was so hard to get moving and we ended up snoozing 15 minutes.  The trail had us camping on a high ridge line and this morning when I got out of the tent it was the thickest fog I've ever seen.  With my head lamp, I could not see more than 10ft in front of me. Normally, on the high-beam setting I can easily see 100 yards away. We packed up camp, and started hiking by 5:30am. At 7:00am we passed the three guys who had left last night which meant we were in the lead.  At this point, it started to steadily drizzle on us. As much as hiking in the rain seems like it would be miserable, we actually enjoyed it. The rain was a nice contrast to the blisteringly hot days we've been experiencing. By noon, we had already completed 15-miles. The last 5 miles we did in 1.5 hours. At times, I gave up on walking and jogged a bit. We made jokes about how at the end of a 20-mile hike we really enjoy a good run.  Our hitching hiking situation today was more difficult by the fact that we were both soaking wet. Basically nobody wants to pick up a wet, stinky stranger from the curb. However, we did find a list of local trail angels and after a couple calls we found one to come pick us up.  His name was Tom and he was so nice.  He gave us a ride to town, showed us around, and even gave Dawn a spa basket that his wife puts together for all the girl hikers. Dawn was elated to have a sponge to shower with, and it even came with spa slippers to wear after she showered. The dinner was everything it had been hyped up to be. It is put on by a Lutheran church in town, and all the lady's every Thursday night give the hikers a free hot meal. We also participated in a Vespers service. It was basically singing a couple hymns, a reflection on some scripture and a couple more hymn's. It was such a blessing to be apart of a church service. Dawn requested to sing her favorite hymn "Blessed Assurance" which was pretty cool. For the rest of the night we sat around and talked.  I even got a chance to minister to a guy who just got out of the Army, God has been so good to place us in just the right place at just the right time. God is good.

My new shoes.

Dawn almost got hit by a boulder.

Honey Bear attempting to pedal his Yarrow root

Hiker Feed!!

Ottie Cline monument

Dawn's bug mask

800-miles!!

The beard is growing thick!

FAA radar site

James River at night

Mr. Toad, trailname "Hopscotch"

On top of Three Ridges

Lunch in the rain

Sign in for the Church Hostel

Lutheran Church Hiker Dinner

Church hostel sleeping area

Vesper Service

Day 47-52

5/16: Day 47 (Dawn)

Zero at the Osborne's.

Friday morning we woke from a wonderful night's rest at the Osborne's. They opened their kitchen to us, so we sipped on some hazelnut fresh brewed coffee and ate some cereal. We chatted with Beth for a little bit while watching the local news. At this point, Beth and Josh had invited us to take a zero at their house but we politely declined. We didn't want to impose on them any more than we had. Beth took us to the trail head three or so miles away front their place. We prayed with her and said our good byes. As we were walking up the mountain we were rejoicing in the kindness that family offered to us and the faithfulness of The Lord to watch over our well-being. We stopped to discuss calling Beth back and seeing if the offer to take a zero at their place was still on the table. She enthusiastically renewed the offer. Since she was at work we walked to her house three miles away. She let us borrow one of there spare vehicles to go to the store- a little black mazada named Rosey. It was awesome! I was able to drive and after not driving any sort of mobile device for a month and a half it was a treat! We got back to the Osborne's and made some egg and cheese sandwiches, and napped for a good portion of the day. After Beth returned from work, we went with her to her son's baseball game. It was such a great evening! It was quite chilly, so the three of us cuddled under a blanket while cheering on Giles County high school varsity baseball team. After, Josh met us at Macado's, and they treated us to a nice dinner. We drove back to enjoy our last night at the next best thing to being home- The Osborne's house. A huge thank you to them, and we look forward to keeping in touch and hopefully hiking with them sometime!

5/17: Day 48 (Dawn)

20 miles. Mile 632 to 652

Pearisburg to the Captains. 

Saturday morning started out with some delicious hazelnut coffee yet again. We sat around and chatted with Josh for a bit before he dropped us off at the trail head. We said our goodbyes and continued on toward Maine around 10 in the morning. This time we left fully satisfied. We had enjoyed a slice of Heaven-similar to being home. There is such a remarkable difference in staying with a family in a home rather that a hotel room where you're basically confined to the sole space you rented and not much more. We delighted in that temporary oasis; however, it was time to continue the mission. Also to note for today, it is our anniversary!! Our marriage has turned one year old. A couple exciting things about the day, we were able to enjoy a nice hot breakfast at the Osborne's-- egg an cheese toasters which are our favorite. The other exciting thing is we started sharing a toothbrush. Ha! Yes, we seriously did. Jeremy must've left his toothbrush at the Osborne's which is odd for him because he never loses anything. It was a humbling experience, and a whole new level for our relationship. Before we started the trail we joked that in order to go ultra light weight we were going to share a toothbrush. Well, it seems our self-fulfilling prophesy came to pass. 

Throughout the day we were giddy to celebrate our first year of marriage on an adventure of a lifetime. This year has been nothing less of amazing. The Lord has prospered and kept us above our wildest dreams. He is so faithful. We look forward to the next years to come. Who knows, we might be climbing Mount Everest by our 10 year. May 17th would fall in that perfect window of opportunity where the jet stream isn't blowing treacherous winds of over 100 mph. Needless-to-say, we look forward to our future together in The Lord. As far as the rest of our day, we hiked on to what is known as the "Captain's". It's located on the trail about 1.5 past the Pine Swamp Branch Shelter across a roaring creek; that being, you have to ride a zip line across to get there. Plus, there is free pop! Sign these hikers up for a zip line am free pop! We successfully crossed the creek and enjoyed some knock-off sprites with our pasta side dinners. It's was the hikers perfect ending to hiker's perfect trek in the woods.

5/18: Day 49 (Dawn)

22 mile day. Mile 652 to 674

The Captains to one mile before Sarver Hollow shelter. 

Sunday morning we broke camp around 8:30 A.M. Today was a bit more challenging. It was extremely rough terrain. As Jeremy would describe, "It was a foot pounding, boot devouring, and knee beating trail" for the majority of the day. By the end of the day we were exhausted. We aimed to go all the way to the Sarver Hollow Shelter but unfortunately as some shelters tend to be it was located .4 miles off the trail. At the end of a brutal day the last thing you want to do is hike almost half a mile downhill just for a place to camp. We had climbed three decent sized mountains totaling well over 5,000 feet in elevation. At this point, anything that didn't count towards the 2,185 miles of the Appalachian Trail, we weren't interested in doing. So, at the bottom of the final mountain to summit we loaded up on water and made the exhausting climb upward. We agreed that the first flat spot we found we would call home for the night. At the very top, about a mile before the shelter I mentioned earlier, we set up camp around 8:30 P.M. Very relieved to call it a night, we did our nightly chores and laid our heads to rest. 

It may seem that we had a 12 hour day, but we took quite a few breaks including a 1.5 hour lunch. We saw the largest oak tree on A.T. in the South, the Keffer Oak. The girth was last measured to be 18 feet, 3 inches, and estimated to be over 300 years old. The branches of the tree were the same size as some surrounding decent sized trees. After the tree, we had to walk through a cow pasture. As we were walking, one of the mama cows started coming after me and I yelled at it to get back. Jeremy thought it was slightly humorous as he came to the rescue. All in all, it was an exhausting yet eventful day. 

5/19:  Day 50 (Jeremy)

20 mile day. Mile 674-694

Sinking creek Mountain to one mile before the Dragon's Tooth.

We've been out here 50 days! We also hiked past the Auddie Murphy monument. He was WWII's most decorated soldier. Today we had to adjust our usual schedule of lunch and dinner because of the distance between water sources. Many things in life and on the A.T.are optional, but water isn't one of them. We had lunch at 11:00 A.M. instead of 1:00 P.M., which I didn't mind one bit. Then, we had dinner at 4:45 P.M., and that was really early for us. After dinner we hiked four remarkably easy miles. We're trying to set ourselves up for an easy day into town the day after tomorrow. We turned down an opportunity to skip a portion of the trail this evening. Two of our new friends got a ride to skip the portion of trail we did after dinner, and just go to the hostel. We've been really diligent to not skip any of the trail. Call us purist if you want, but it's what we've been doing. I have a theory that the worst rules in life to break are the ones you set for yourself. If you break those, all other rules are more easily broken, and that's not a habit to begin. After dinner, we encountered two guys who had just come back from trail days. Trail days is a festival held every year in Damascus, VA.  It's basically a giant festival to party and do communal drugs. For those reasons we chose to pass up that event. Anyway, the two people we encountered had decided to bring trail days back to the trail. They had a horn and a flute and played them as they walked. If I was camping with them that night, their instruments might've ended up in the privy. We also climbed a 3.5 mile mountain, 1500 feet in elevation gain, in under an hour. We were behind Scout and Aerie and they set a pretty solid, nonstop pace for us. We decided to stealth camp again about a mile before the Dragon's Tooth. It's been a good day. Much easier than the day before. 

5/20: Day 51 (Dawn)

20 mile day. Mile 694-714

One mile before Dragon's Tooth to Lamberts Shelter

Today has probably been our favorite of the trail thus far--our favorite scenic day that is. We started off the morning by summitting Cove Mountain which holds the popular Dragon's Tooth. Jeremy climbed all they way to the tip top of it. I, on the other hand, only climbed 2/3 of the way up. The view was impeccable. We saw where we came from and where we were headed to. The bouldering mile long descent was a bit challenging to our patience. Soon after though, the four foot boulders were exchanged for flat pine needle softened trails, and the sharp blunt rocks were exchanged for isles of blossoming rhododendrons. It was magnificent! Around one, just two miles before our lunch destination, we stubbled upon some much needed trail blessings. The pop, donuts, snacks, and a little candy gave us just the boost we needed to make it to lunch. After lunch we summitted McAfee Knob, a local must see. We took some photos and chatted with friends then proceeded forward to finish the latter end of the day. The last sight of the day was the Tinker Cliffs. They're multiple bluffs and overlooks, all with superb extended views. Before the Tinker Cliffs, a somewhat humorous thing happened. We got a little lost due to my momentarily poor leading. When we were going over some boulders there was an A.T. sign with a wiggly arrow pointing up. Well, there was a footpath that went up then back down. So, I happened to follow the foot path thinking that the A.T. was doing yet another unnecessary and tiring detour. I was wrong. Jeremy wanted to turn around to see where we missed the white blaze. I insisted that this path would lead to it and other hiker's had been here recently because there were pole marks. About 10 minutes into going down a goat path on the side of the mountain with big drop offs, Jeremy insisted on turning around. Sure enough, we were following the wrong man made path. However, it only put us 20 minutes behind and we learned a lesson that was not to be deliberately repeated again. We made it to Lamberts Meadow Shelter and called it a night. It's been a wonderful day and we look forward to our town and zero day! 

5/21: Day 51 (Dawn)

9.5 miles. Mile 714.6- 724 

Lamberts Meadow Shelter to Daleville/Troutville, VA

We woke up this morning at 4:30 A.M. to break camp no later than 6 A.M. Hiking early morning has many more pros than cons. One of positives are walking in the coolest part of the day. It's the difference between some brow and back sweat versus blisters popping up on your skin because the backpack straps are rubbing their way to the bones from the massive amount of salt sweated creating a sandpaper type feeling against your skin. Another is walking into the sunrise. The bird are singing in symphony as the sun gleams through the trees and nature stirs awake. A couple more are arriving at the destination much earlier, and being able to see where everyone stealth camps. The only negatives are waking up when it's still dark and the massive amounts of spider colonies that are deported from there natural habitat to your face, clothing, and pack. Overall, we'd much rather break camp early morning but sometimes it's difficult if we get to camp late the previous night. We made it to town by 9:30 A.M. When we got there we headed straight to the post office. Jeremy had a new pair of shoes that have been waiting for him for five or days. They were a tad small so we sent them back and we'll get the new pair tomorrow. He's super excited though! After the post office we got a ride to the local outfitters from a high school kid. We got some new socks to prevent anymore foot sanding from our current salt and dirt coated socks. From there we headed to the Three Lil Pigs BBQ restaraunt that all the hikers were recommending. We weren't as hungry as usual, so we split some chicken tenders spun in BBQ sauce with buffalo chip and sweet potato fries with honey ketchup. YUM! It was just as everyone said, absolutely delicious. The waitress told us she was going to bring some banana pudding that they give complementary to the hikers. I don't like pudding but this was amazing. It had chunks of bananas, topped with whipped cream and served with vanilla wafers. We were very appreciative. Afterwards, we headed to Krogers to resupply for the next four days of hiking. We got a ride to our hotel with Bear Bag and his girlfriend Kelsey. Big thanks to them! We checked in and enjoyed a long awaited shower. After we headed to the truck stop to wash our clothes. We were in the laundry room and realized how expensive it was just for one load of laundry and I made the comment, "Well we'll know for next time." Jeremy laughed and said, "No we won't; We'll never be at this truck stop again." We both started laughing uncontrollably. This is one of the things about the trail. A lot of the time you just don't know until you try. We go to these towns we've never been to, and we have only have access to the things we can walk to. It's a learn as you go adventure. But we love the spontaneity of it! While we were waiting for our clothes we met a trucker named Bryan. He was a really friendly, nice man driving a truck to provide for his family. He's a born again, Spirit-filled Christian, so we got a chance to fellowship and pray with him. It was awesome! After our clothes were done we headed to Crackel Barrell where we had our much anticipated dinner date. Jeremy was so excited! He had been talking about it all day! We ended the evening with some Epsom Salt baths, and sleeping on a comfy bed in a climate controlled room. What a day!

Beth's son, Jake's baseball game!

The sign for the Captains

Ziplining to the Captains!

Some of the terrible terrain 

Fence climbing

Keffer Oak Tree

The Mountians have waves too.

Audie Murphy Monument

The Dragon's Tooth

View from the top of Dragon's Tooth

Boys like to stop and smell the flowers too :)

700 miles!

McAfee Knob

View from Tinker Cliffs

Bananna pudding!

Just happy to be here!

Yes please!

Day 40-46

Day 40 12-miles 05-09-14

Partnership shelter-Atkins VA comfort inn

What an easy day! No big hills, no crazy nat attacks. We started hiking at 7:30 in the cool of the day. Around 11:00 we came across a settlers museum. The first building we saw was a restored farm from the late 1800's. The coolest building we looked at was a school house. In it was a ton of free drinks supplied by a local church and the most intense set of rules and punishments I've ever seen. We then hiked another hour to "The Barn" restaurant. Just before the barn we came across a baby stroller sitting on the trail, and no baby. It had a little monkey doll in the stroller. How creepy is that! After taking some pics we kept hiking. As we walked across the restaurant parking lot we noticed some sheriff deputes talking. One pulled over and asked if we had seen a baby stroller, I told him we had and even showed him the picture we took of it. Apparently it has caused quite a stir in the community. So much so even the state police had been out to investigate. The deputy was a nice guy and recommended the restaurant we were going to. Dawn and I both order their "Hillbilly burger." It came slathered in mushrooms cheese BBQ sauce, and a 3/4lbs beef patty. When we got done our plan was to keep hiking another 6 miles, but the clouds in the sky started to rain a little. I called my Dad and he booked us a nice room down at the Comfort Inn. Going to an air conditioned, wifi capable, hot shower, soft bed kingdom like that place was beyond a treat! For the rest of the day I sat sipping coffee and watching tv. Life goes easy. 

Day 41 0-miles 05-10-14

Zero day

We had the best of intentions to hike today. But as our checkout time got close, it was still raining. The only logical thing was to stay another night. We were so sad. NOT! Two nights in the most comfortable bed I've had thus far on the trail was just what we needed. I even got some ice for my knees to get maximum recovery for my body. It wasn't until 4:30 when we ventured out to look what was outside the hotel. It wasn't much. Only two gas stations and a restaurant called the Atkins tank. We did meet a hiker today called hog-driver. He is a retired air force pilot that flew the A-10 Warthog during his career. He now flys for delta airlines. What's even cooler than that is he is a creation expert. He's spent a large portion of his life learning the science behind creation and even does church and school talks to give the creation view. It's obvious he's very knowledgable. Dawn and I got dinner with him across the street. Hopefully we'll hike together tomorrow. As for the rest of the day, we got back to our room and got yet another restful comfortable nights sleep. Life goes easy.

Day 42 17-miles 05-11-14

Comfort inn Atkins va-lick creek

Breakfast this morning was wonderful. For the second day in a row a splurged with a waffle, eggs, and yogurt. Lucky for us we got a ride from another hiker who had a prearranged ride back to the trail. Hitch hiking is always exciting but we avoid it when we can. We made it back to the trail around 8:45. One of the random things of the trail is you never know who you're going to run into. This morning we saw our long lost friend Mary and Ryan. They had stayed at a hotel a couple miles further down the road from us. We chatted for a while and then they ate at the barn restaurant, which has awesome food. The scenery was truly beautiful today. It had lots of meadows and pasture land to wander across. Thus far Virginia has been much hotter than Tennessee. I've taken to using one of Dawns bandannas as a sweat rag, and my backpack is developing sweat lines on the shoulder straps. I think it's going to be this way for a while. Right before bed we had a bible study at camp. It was awesome! I got to lead it and it was really cool to see what thoughts and question people had. 

Day 43 20-miles 04-12-14

Lick creek-fort bastion 

It's been a long long long day! Normally if we start by 8:30, like we did today, we're done by 5. Not today. Along with it being warmer, it was a day of tough terrain. One positive is we found a place to stay that gives a shuttle to and from the trail head, with breakfast! It's only $7 a person so we are curious to what it's like. When we made it to the pickup point we were greeted by a British guy name trubrit and his land rover. He gave up a life of designing and building vacation homes to come play in the woods, and he's super nice. Upon arriving to his place our hopes were dashed. The shower he had described was a creek, and he has no running water. This guy seriously lives off the land, and drives a land rover. Based on first impression, I didn't see this coming. 

Day 44 20-miles 05-13-14

Fort bastion-camp site by a road

This morning started off odd. The guy I told you about, trubrit, said we would have all you can eat bacon eggs and pancakes. That sounded awesome. What we got was completely different. He made enough food to feed my immediate family. What needed to be made was at least 4 times as much. This has been our least favorite lodging experience. To be nice, it was extremely misrepresented from the beginning. But it's all in hiking the trail. We finally got hiking around 9:30am. Today's big challenge was our water situation. There was no water for 18-miles. Which meant we needed to carry every drop we could. Our hiking pace was much faster today. We did the 18-miles by 5:00pm and made it to camp by 6:30pm. We stopped and grabbed water. The terrain today was 10x better today. We were extremely grateful for that! Lately I've taken to creek bathing. Meaning I use my bandana to wipe off all the caked on sweat lines from that days hike. Also I would highly recommend Mitchum deodorant. I've been walking for three days in the hot Virginia sun and I still don't smell like B.O. Dawn is very excited about that. I'm finally getting to bed before 9:00pm, which is awesome! Time for some rest. Life is good. 

Day 45 23-miles 05-14-14

Camp site by the road-doc knob shelter

Today my sinuses have waged a full-scale war against pollen, and I'm the victim. I knew this day would come, thankfully tomorrow it's going to storm all day and get the pollen out of the air. We passed a shelter today where 25-years ago 3 people were murdered. I didn't know that until after we had passed, and we ate lunch in it. The most eventful part of today was what happened as we cooked dinner. After looking at the weather forecast we decided to sleep in the shelter because it was going to rain cats and dogs. Another hiker saw a mouse and kicked it. The mouse then ran up the wall into a hole. Normally hikers are at the mercy of shelter mice, but not tonight. We took a bunch of sticks and clog up the hole. All night the mice chewed, squeaked, and gnawed at the wood to get out without success. Not only did we avoid having to pack up a wet tent, but we successfully put the shelter mice in jail. Life goes easy. 

Day 46 8-miles 05-15-14

Doc knob shelter-Josh and Beth's house

It started pouring rain last night around 4:00am and it still hasn't quit. We were very glad to have stayed in a shelter that kept us dry all night, and we didn't have to pack up a wet tent. Around 7:00am we got up and started having breakfast. We knew it was only 8-miles into town, but it was going to be a very wet 8-miles. We started out hiking with full rain gear on and very soon got really hot and sweaty. There's a balance to be had with rain gear during physical activity. Basically, if it's causing you to sweat more than it's keeping out rain it's not worth wearing. Right after we took off our rain jackets (we left on our rain pants to keep the water and mud out of our boots) it really started raining. At that point, who cares. I'm going to get wet one way or another. We made it into town and since nobody wants to pick up a soaking wet hiker(I don't blame them) we walked the half mile to pizza plus. Then we did laundry. After that we made our way to the grocery store to buy 5-days of food to make it to our next town. As we were de-boxing all the snack bars in front of the store we watched the rain pick back up to full strength again. This is the type of rain where if you walk from your car to the door of Walmart you get soaked. As I'm sitting there I'm praying "God I really don't want to hike in this rain, get us a place to stay." All the hotels in town were full. Not five minutes later a very nice lady walks out and ask if we need a place to stay. PRAYER ANSWERED!! Her name is Beth, and she is awesome! She took us to her super nice home, gave us their guest bedroom, cooked us steak, and let us shower. We got to sit around and chat with her husband Josh and her for the rest of the evening. All I can say is God is so good! As I lay here in their guest bedroom warm, dry, and clean the wind and rain are still howling outside. I am so thankful for this house! Life goes easy. 

Virginia fields

I picked Dawn a flower for Mother's Day since she'll have our kids one day

A really cool shelter

Truebrits land rover and R.V.

I can walk 600-miles!!

Attempting to dry my jacket on the pizza plus pizza warmer

Josh and Beth's wonderful home!