Virginia is Hard!

Hey Y'all!!

Where to start? First of all, we are still on the trail and doing well. We entered Virginia, the longest state on the trail at over 500 miles, a little over a month ago. It is the state in which the second large batch of hikers drop out, the first being about a week into the trail in Georgia. The reason being that it's hot and long and looks like a green tunnel.

Don't get me wrong, Virginia definitely has it's high points. The Greyson highlands are beautiful with the rocky balds where you can see for miles and it's wild ponies running free. Trail towns are also very friendly there. I guess, for us, it got hard because nothing seemed to be new. We felt like we were seeing the same shelters and parts of the trail over and over again and being out here just became a daily mental battle. We had to do an attitude check every morning and try self talk methods on wanting to be out here.

Why was it so hard? Bugs constantly getting in our eyes and ears and bit ting us to the point of itching uncontrollably, climbing up mountains in dead summer heat with no breeze, sweating to the point of wearing soaking wet clothes, no rain creating very dusty trails causing the sweat on our bodies to turn into mud, and when it did finally rain we got a whole new set of problems.

Jimmy and I have been wearing sandles since we entered Virginia. Jimmy wore socks with his but mine were Chaco's with the toe strap so I didn't. The rain caused the straps to rub open sores on the tops of my feet so we had to take a couple of zero days for those to heal. (during which we rented a car) Then when we got back on the trail and after about 5 miles we were forced to get off again because my dried out calluses started to crack open on the bottom of my feet. As bad as that sounds, all of that stuff is what we bargained for so we could deal with it. However, there was something else that was creating strife for us.

When we set out on our journey in April, we were aware of the deadline that awaited us. Mt. Katahdin, ME is in Baxter State Park which closes on October 15 or sometimes earlier based on weather. We realized about a week into Virginia that we were running a bit behind schedule so we've decided to "flip flop". That decision alieviated much pressure because we weren't stressing about doing 20+ mile days. We have been able to enjoy having more ownership over our decisions regarding the miles that we will hike each day.

The more typical way to "flip flop" is to hike to the mid point of the trail, catch a ride up to Maine and hike south back to the mid point. We thought about doing that but changed our plans when "Backseat Hollywood" aka Momma Charlotte & Aunt Sue offered us a ride up the trail when they came for they're visit in Waynesboro, VA. Waynesboro is about 850 miles from the start in GA.

So the next thing we know, we are on our way to North Adams, MASS, a town about 5 miles from the MA/VT border. We are going to be doing the last almost 600 miles of the trail, coming back to North Adams and hiking south to Waynesboro, VA. Finishing our journey just outside of the Shenandoah National Park!!

On our way up here, we stopped in Washington, DC and played tourists for a couple of days. Mom, Aunt Sue, Jimmy and I went to a Washington Nationals baseball game where I was on the "jumbotron" for 'shakin' it'!! Haha ;) The next day, we all went on a trolley tour around the Capitol and all of the historic monuments. Our unanimous favorite was probably the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where they have the changing of the guards every 30 minutes. It was really beautiful.

On the way to the trolley tour, we spotted the "Question Mark Man" from the commercial where he talks about getting free money from the gov't and Jimmy got his picture taken with him. That'll be on the next update!

After a very long, fun road trip we are here in North Adams and trail ready!
We think of you all often and hope all is well!
Take care and much love!

Jimmy and Jen aka "Big and Bedbug"