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!

Purpose

Living for Gods purpose:

Numbers 31:8

They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed BALAAM the son of Beor with the sword.

Numbers 22:8

And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with BALAAM.

What is the point of purpose? I've had a lot of time to think and pray since being out here, and one of the questions in my prayer life to God was how did Balaam in Numbers 22 speak so plainly for The Lord but die with the rest of the Moabites in Numbers 31? If you read the story, he is summoned by a King to speak a curse on the Israelite people. His words in the past had been so effective that when a king knew he could not defeat his opposition militarily he turned to Balaam. Shortly into the story we find how he is so effective. He only spoke the words The Lord gave him, Jesus did the same thing. He knew his purpose. When the messengers arrived from the king he stated not only to the first set of messengers but to the second set that he could not curse the Israelites because he could only speak the words The Lord gave him. The King kept egging him on and started throwing money at him, larger and larger sums of money. Later in the chapter 31 we read that he was among the dead as the Israelites concurred there promised land. What happened? He got greedy. Instead of cursing the Israelites, because he only spoke the words The Lord gave him, he told the Moabite King how to get them into sin. Some where along the way he deviated from his original purpose. Instead of being a mouth piece for The Lord he became an advisor for the king. This is how evil and sin can enter a life. When the purpose of something is lost or deviated from sin creeps in. Take a car for example. If I use a car as a weapon and run over a pedestrian I have deviated from that cars purpose, and there by used it for evil. What was meant for good has been used for evil. 

Every person reading this has a purpose. Take a moment and be still. The heart you feel beating inside you was hand crafted by The Lord, in His image, and for a specific purpose. So many people in this world are empty. Not because they don't have possessions or family, but because they haven't sought their purpose. Scripture in Ephesians teaches us we all have a specific work for The Lord to be completed. Do not give up looking. When you find your purpose is when we can truly start to live. The truth of this matter is sobering. We have to stay diligent for what The Lord would have us accomplish. 

Day 35-39

Day 35 0-miles 05-04-14

Zero day at Cory and Selina's place

Nothing describes today besides a sitting on a porch and sipping fanta all day. We both got to chat with our family a good bit. I did find out that I-540, a major highway where we live, got renamed. So much else seems to be changing while we are out here, and I'm sure I don't know the half of it. We did get to watch some YouTube and basically hangout with our wonderful host. For lunch we wandered down from their house to go see the historical district and eat. It's been said that Virginia is for lovers. Crossing the state line didn't make me feel any awesome love feelings, but I'll take any excuse i can get to give my wife a kiss. She's the prettiest girl ever. Life goes easy.  

Day 36 16-miles 05-05-14

Damascus VA-Lost mountain shelter 

We enjoyed our last hours in a home this morning. Both of us took another shower, and we for sure didn't leave town without going by what has become our favorite breakfast joint thus far. Selina dropped us off in town at Mt. Rogers outfitters. I picked up a new sleeping bag. My awesome 20 degree Eddie Bauer bag was too warm even when used as a blanket. To replace it I got a Marmot 45 degree summer bag. I should sleep more since I won't be waking up sweating 4 times a night. We also took the chance to mail home some other winter gear. After that we resupplied with food from dollar general and hit the trail. On the way out of town we did get some ice cream, who could pass that up. Since we didn't get on trail until 1 it made for a late evening. As a side note a lot of hikers have been getting a stomach bug. We've decided to not use the shelters for a while as a precautionary measure. By the grace of God we wouldn't get it any way. All in all it was hard to leave Cory and Selina today. They were such great host and we will miss the comforts of an air conditioned home. 

Day 37 18-miles 05-06-14

Lost mt shelter-camp site by a creek 

It's been a bitter sweet day. On one hand our feet are screaming from the rockiness of today's trek, on the other we got to pet wild ponies. It was pretty amazing. They would walk right up and let you feed them.  As the ponies kept coming I caught myself singing that terrible child's toy theme song "My little pony, my little pony." What a ridiculous song to have stuck in your head, but it made us both laugh. I heard that there was one with a white blaze on it's back and if you found it it could be road to the end. I looked diligently for that pony, but I was out of luck. After that disappointment we finished our day around 6:30pm. It was nice that we camped so close to a creek, made for a short walk to fetch water at the end of the day. 

Day 38 20-miles 05-07-14

Creek camp-trimpi shelter 

We started off this morning at 8:30, which is a good time. Today's terrain was less rocky and a little flatter. So our feet are feeling less like all of willy wonka's ompa-lumpa's took baseball bats to them today. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I will do when I get home. I already have a direction, but how that plays out is still to be determined. One cool thing I forgot to mention was the watch Dawn got for me. We picked it up back in Damascus, and it's been so great to have one. I started out the trail with a watch but it had a steel band and wasn't well suited for hiking. She is happy I'm not constantly asking her what time it is the entire day. Since we don't have a gps to measure distance, time is the next best form of measurement. We made it into camp at a good time too, around 6:30. We talked to one of our friends today who's tent was ripped to shreds by a bear. He offered no picture evidence, but he did have a whole new sleeping setup. Apparently he put up his tent just outside of Damascus to save a spot for him to sleep. After some time on the town he went back after dark and found his tent torn apart. That's the first instance of a bear attack I've heard or read In recent years on the AT. It's exceedingly rare for a black bear to be more than just curious, he must of had some food in his tent. I've noticed that some people who hike alone all day want to do nothing but talk when you get into camp. Sometimes this is nice, but when you've had the same conversation about water, food, gear, and towns it gets a little old. That said, I'm very happy to be in my tent about to go to sleep. 

Day 39 11-miles 05-08-14

Trimpi shelter-Partnership shelter

There was a moment in time today around 4:30pm that everything was perfect. My wife and I were laying on the grass napping, and as I starred up at the blue sky through the newly bud leaves it was perfect. We had an easier day today. For starters we got a super early start at 6:30am and made it to our destination by 10:30am. The shelter we are at is very close to a park service visitors center and it offers $.50 rides to town. First thing was lunch. Across the street was a Pizza Hut with an "All you can eat buffet" sign. Big mistake! I easily ate $25 worth of pizza for the cheap price of $6.50. Dawn and I both tore that place up, at this point it takes a lot for our stomachs to be full. For the first time all trail we got to resupply in a Walmart. I used to despise going to Walmart, but now it's a treat. Best of all we bought exactly what we wanted and didn't have to compromise like we do at dollar general. We took the shuttle back to camp, took showers, and did our laundry by hand. This shelter is only the second one we've come across that has a shower. After that we ended up on the lawn living the easy life letting the sun warm us for the rest of the day. Life goes easy. 

White top Mt. 

Wild ponies

Wooing my pony before I saddle it.

This pony called all his friends after she fed it.

Hiking in the early morning. 

Day 27-34

Day 27 &28 12-miles 04-26/27

A hotel room in Erwin-tent camping by the river

Today as we were about to leave town I had a thought. Neither one of us have been to church since we started hiking. I got on my phone and found there was a Assembly of God church in town. We called, but no answer. Then I called my home church pastor Bro. Fant. He was away from the phone but I left him a message telling him of our situation, and at that point plugged up my phone to charge. In the mean time he got my message and hooked us up big time. Not only did he find out the local churches pastor and phone number, but he called the pastor personally and told him about Dawn and I! We ended up getting in touch with the pastor, his name was Bro. Crass. This guy was a character! He has been in the ministry basically all his life and had so many awesome stories. Him and his wife took us to dinner and during conversation he asked if I would like to preach the Sunday morning service. OF COURSE! Wow! After it had settled in that I was preaching I realized I had better get to work organizing my message. After all, my pastor Bro. Fant had given the recommendation. That night we tent camped beside the Nolichucky river. Bro. Crass picked us up at 7:45am and took us for breakfast with his wife, she is also a very hospitable and loving person. We talked about life and all the things that go with it. Finally at 11 it was church time. We had some awesome praise and worship, which always helps a minister out. Then it was my turn. I preached on fighting the good fight of faith, and it was awesome! So many people responded and came down for prayer to have faith for their situation. What a great day, it's so cool to see how The Lord is working through Dawn and I on this trip. Afterwords they took us to yet another meal. They drive us back to the trail and we said our goodbyes. Dawn and I decided we would go ahead and hike 12 easy miles to a good camping spot. Today has been the best day yet of our trip!

Day 29 22-miles 04-28-14

Deep gap-Roan mt shelter

The forecast today was supposed to be rain basically all day. It turned out much better. It was sunny until 4 and then it monsoon rained the last two hours of our hike. Not much else explains today except it was long. We wanted to get to this shelter we are at because it's really nice, and we wanted to catch up to our friends Tator, Gumbi, and bikini line. We did make it around 6:00pm. One good thing is that we haven't had wet feet once on our trip for 28 days. The down side is today, being day 29, our feet got wet. At one point after the rain, we still had a mile left, we stopped and squeezed out all the water from our socks. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. Dawn and I made jokes all day, and we even made some knew friends today. Life goes good. Hopefully it will be drier tomorrow. 

Day 30 16-miles 04-29-14

Roan mt-Mt harbor hiker B&B

Today we saw the most extreme weather thus far on the trip. All night last night I could hear the rain and wind pounding our shelter. At one point it literally started howling the wind was blowing so hard. We got a late start to hiking at 10:00am. Soon after we read in the book that the hostel we wanted to go to gave a free shuttle to town, and in town was an awesome pizza place. I really miss my pizza! That said, we started running the downhill stretches to make up time. We also had two high peaks to traverse. These peaks on a nice day would have been a good climb, but combined with the wind they were a pretty intense experience. I got Dawn to take a video of me spitting, and my spit goes horizontal. It was something to behold. Both of us were very glad to be off that ridge line. The latter part of the day was pretty nice. A couple miles from the end we actually had some sunshine. We kept running the downhills and did make it in time for the shuttle. I opted for a BBQ place instead of pizza. It was awesome! The hostel shuttle even took us to resupply. They had said there bunks were full and we would have to tent, but we convinced them to let us stay on the floor since there was a good chance of thunderstorms. We got showers, washed our clothes, and had a chance to watch Apollo 13. I forgot how good that movie was. Life goes easy. 

Day 31 10-miles 04-30-14

Mt Harbor B&B-mountaineer shelter

This morning we had a four-star breakfast. All other breakfast should be rated on a scale where the best possible breakfast is what we had this morning. I ate more food than I could have hoped for. Way better than our usual peanut butter covered pop tarts, oatmeal, and coffee. After that feast we sat around the B&B until 11:00am digesting our food. It was a good thing because it took all I could do to walk away from the table. After that we decided to have a shorter day of just 10-miles. We also passed the 400-mile mark today!! Lately we've really gotten into downloading podcast off of iTunes. I've been listening to a lot of different awesome speakers and preachers. It's a nice change of page from my music, and it's free. Life is good. 

Day 32 22-miles 05-01-14

Mountaineer shelter-Pond Flat

It's been an awesome day. The shelter we stayed at last night was the royal palace of shelters. It had three levels, and since Dawn and I were the first to arrive we scored the loft level bunks! Which meant we would have to deal with other people shifting and kicking in their sleep since there was only room for the two of us. One common site of staying at shelters is a phenomenon called the "Shelter Shuffle." It occurs every morning and consist of when a person first begins to walk. Because everyone's feet are so sore it's impossible to walk without some kind of limp or gimp. Thus we've dubbed it the "Shelter Shuffle." It's truly the simple things that make life so awesome. Before we came out here we watched an interview of a guy who has walked the AT some 17 times. He said that "hiking the AT isn't fun." He was right. If all a person had to do out here was walk, there would be a much higher attrition rate. I've been amazed at all the people I meet and get to talk with. I'm not just talking the normal "hey, how's it goin?" Conversation. It's much deeper than that. Out here no one has a mask to hide behind. There are no expensive vehicles, big homes, prestigious jobs, or family names. What you see is what you get. It's refreshing in a way. Besides all that, we did see an awesome waterfall today. Right now I'm at my favorite part of the day. Nestled net to my wife in my sleeping bag. Life is good. 

Day 33 26-miles 05-02-14

Pond Flat-Double springs Shelter

Let me paint you a picture. You're walking through the woods and as you come out on a clearing you see a guy with a "Support your local Outlaws" shirt, snake skin boots, and a giant steak knife. He's in the middle of hacking away at what looks to be a tarp, but it's almost dark and you can't really tell. You walk a little closer and he looks up. You don't know of he's looking at you because one eye points left and the other points right. He then offers you food. That is where we found ourselves after 23-miles of hiking. It had a really long day. We hadn't gotten out of camp until 9:15am. At the point of running into that guy, I was more than happy to walk another three miles. We got into the shelter at 9:10pm. When we get into camp Dawn and I have a division of labor to speed up the process of eating and going to bed. I setup the tent get out sleeping stuff, and hang the bear line. She goes to get water and begins to cook. We had intended on just sleeping in the shelter since it had been such a long day, but as I got out our stuff I could hear shelter mice running around everywhere in there. It was like they had a race track! I decided to go ahead and setup the tent. A little more work, but if you had heard all the shelter mice horror stories we have you would of done the same. I would say that today was by far the most eventful day. 

Day 34 18-miles 05-03-14

Double Springs-Damascus, Va

We made it to another state! Virginia has over 500-miles of trail in it, so it's going to be a long one. When we got into Damascus I got a new watch that Dawn had ordered for me and I also got some boot gators. I've come to hate sticks and rocks in my shoe more than adjectives could describe. One of our friends named Hungry finished his hike so we took him to dinner. When we got to dinner we met a couple that offered us a place to stay in Damascus way back in Hot springs. What are the chances!! She'd given Dawn her number but we completely forgot. Of course we took her up on it, but not after I ate a whole large pizza. She brought us back to their place, gave us a bed, free laundry, and a shower! This means that we get to hangout at a proper home. Life is good. 

Erwin First AG

The 400 mile mark!

Breakfast plate at MT Harbor B&B

Crossing the Laurel River

Laurel water falls

Dawn liked the horses. She now wants one. 

State line sign!!