Date: 2014-06-28
From: Mountain Home Cabin, US 522, Mile 965.8

To: Ashby Gap/US-50, Mile 985.6
Miles today: 19.8

Lisa had breakfast ready for Sassafras and me at 6:30 as planned. Bagel w/cream cheese, yogurt with fresh blueberries and an apple I took with me to eat later. Since I wouldn't have wifi for a while, I stayed to finish and post my entry for two days ago. With that and chatting for awhile, I didn't get hiking until 8:45!This was a section of trail Sarah and I hiked years ago on a one night trip, so it was good to reminisce. I was making good time and thinking about how soom I might get to points further down the trail. Then, as I was approaching a wide stream, I saw a woman who looked familiar sitting on the near side. As I got closer, I saw a familiar man on the other side getting water, and behind him were three older kids. Rene! Damien! It was the Tougas family from Canada! They are hiking the trail as a family and home schooling on the trail. They had a Kickstarter project to raise funds to film their adventure and make videos which they post online. Linda and I had supported their project and I had exchanged some emails with them before they started their hike. Blackbeard came along then, we all chatted some more, then Blackbeard and I headed off. He had stayed in Front Royal last night. When we got to the top of the hill there was a bench in the sun so Blackbeard stopped to have lunch. The bench was on the edge of a clearing that I remembered from Sarah's and my hike to be an old farm. I pressed on another mile or so to the parking area at I-66, where I found a picnic table in the shade where I stopped for lunch. I had been thinking that I wished I had spent more time with the Tougas family to get to know them better before racing off. I also forgot to get a picture of them.While I was eating lunch, Blackbeard came by and hiked on. We were both planning on spending the night at a shelter about 23 miles from where we started. Then the Tougas family came by! So I got their picture before they headed off, and I knew I'd catch up with them again. They hike a similar pace that I do, but stop after every hour of hiking for a 10 to 20 minute break. The Tougas FamilyI caught up with the Tougas family on their next break and then hiked with them for the next hour. We had such a good time chatting that I decided to just hike with them the rest of the day. Our order of hiking varied throughout the day, so I had the opportunity to chat with each of them - all good folks! They were planning to just find a camping spot about 5 miles before the shelter where I had planned to stop, a 17 mike day for them. Since I'm meeting Linda Sunday at Rt 7 at about 1:00, I figured I could camp with them and still meet Linda on time. As we were approaching their intended stopping mileage, we entered a state park with a sign saying overnight camping was prohibited between there and US-50, another 2.8 miles away! So they decided to press on to US-50. When we got there, there were no places to camp! Damien went up to a house with a big side lawn just down the road and asked if we could camp on their lawn. Yes! Camping with the Tougas FamilyI had a great day hiking and being an adopted Grampa-for-the-day. Plus I ended at a great camp site with good cell coverage so I could talk to my Sweetie! :-)