Date: 2010-10-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Somedays you cherish the miles, other days you just walk the miles. Whether you are cherishing the miles or simply walking them, there is one common denominator; you walk the miles.I am in the Shenendoah of northern Virginia. It is breathtaking and stunning. We are all happy to be back in the mountains. We are happy, our legs not so much. I have to apologize to so many of my friends that were hoping to visit in PA. The weather really dampened any hopes of that....literally. We had so many rainy days that it was near impossible to stop at the couple of places we had hoped. We were on a tight schedule trying to get here for Addisons parents who were driving up from Mississippi. We have been staying at the Big Meadows camp resort where his parents set up a nice little car camping area complete with grill, coolers of soda and many other treats. We arent wasting the days, as having car support alowed us to "slack pack" (do big mile days without a pack). Resets parents are really neat down to earth people. His father, a Methodist pastor, is a really neat guy to talk to and as down to earth as can be. The views here are amazing. The fall foilage along with October blue skies and crisp chilly nights is quite a perfect combination. You get this really nice mixture of colors when walking throughout the day. Reds, oranges and yellows all brightened by the sun. The trail in Virginia is nice as well. Although we are getting back into mountains, the trail seems to be nicely graded and nicely maintained.Snakes/Serpents......I'm sure you all know by now that I hate them. I have to confess, I have not seen one. Not one. Not on all the big rocks and sunny days in PA, not in the warm leaf covered trail of VA. However, I know they are there and they have been trying to get me. I have just out smarted them is all. If they dare try anything, I will be ready to battle....aka run like hell.I finished another book called "The Unforgiving Minute". Its a memoir of a West Point grad/Oxford Rhodes scholar/Army Ranger, who deploys to Afghanistan. The "Unforgiving Minute" being a metaphor for those moments that change our life or haunt us. It was a great read and I highly recommend it.I bought a Nook from Barnes and Noble. Reading has become one of our favorite past times out here. We all read, all the time. Since Wolfman had bought one i've been seriously contemplating it. The thing is, alot of these classic books I've been buying for 8-9 bucks are free on the Nook! Right now I'm reading "The things they carried" by Tim Obrien. At night, I'd say we all lay in our bags for a minimum of an hour before going to sleep.I was so freaked out yesterday. The day that I hiked out of Duncannon PA i stayed at the first shelter, 4 miles out of town. This was one of the days we all got seperated. I was by myself and it was creepy and dark with a quiet fog. I was so happy when wolfman showed up around 9:30. Yesterday I found out this was the shelter where one of the infamous murders on the trail took place. A couple from Ohio was killed by a crazy back woodsman while they slept. I was probally sleeping in one of the bunks where they died seeing as they were the only two people there and would have been on the bottom bunks as I was.....creepy.Tomorrow Resets parents are leaving, and we continue our hike South from here. We realized today we have already been in 10 states....wow! We have a tentative date of Dec 12th to finish but who knows. More updates and pics to follow.