Mile 624

Today is May 21st & we just got into the town of Pearisburg, VA. I know, I know...it's been awhile since I have checked in with friends & family...but I have had very limited cell phone service & while trying to search for service my battery was drained! :( So here I am relaxing at a coffee shop in Pearisburg. The past week has been quite crazy-first of all while, we were in Damascus, there were tornado warnings-so we spent a few extra days waiting out the storm. We hiked for several days, picked up a mail drop in Sugar Grove, VA...and then had a crazy day of hiking 24 miles. Yea...the 24 mile day wasn't exactly planned-rather we (James, Equinox, & I) had hiked 17 miles to a nice creek & campsite & met a fellow hiker at the site. We all three didn't have a very good feeling about the guy so we said our code "Should we wait for Betsy" (which is code for either "lets not stay here or let's not take this ride") & we all replied "Yes". By this time it was already 7:20 p.m. so we hiked out...but we weren't coming across any water or campsites. So we ended up hiking until 10:15 p.m. with our headlamps, through many miles, seven to be exact, of cow fields. Mind you there were cows everywhere & we were literally dodging cow patties in the dark. It was crazy! We finally found a spot & ended up in bed by 11:30 p.m. The next few days we hiked light, but the weather was miserable. We were a bit grouchy until we came on some unexpected "Trail Magic". A Methodist Church in Bastian, VA makes breakfast for hikers every Monday morning. So we had a fantastic breakfast & got a free ride into town for our mail drop. It really made our day! :) The past few days we hiked 23 & 21 miles...so we are taking a zero tomorrow...where we will relax & catch up on everything that's going on in the world. I think that's a brief version of what's going on...and I will do my best to update this as soon as possible. Until then...peace-Share