Date: 2015-05-23
From: Where I left off

To: The Priest Shelter
Miles today: 425.1
Weather: broken clouds

UPDATE*****UPDATE*****UPDATE*****UPDATE*****UPDATE*Roub is alive, well and still on the trail... (Completely my fault everyone... You would think that updating a journal would be easy, but it's harder than you can imagine. Makes me miss him a lot more. I can¢t explain it but for everyone out there that has their special someone away; you know! OK Enough about that though...) Roub has traveled over 825 miles so far. That has taken him from Springer Mountain to beyond Buena Vista, VA (currently at The Priest Shelter). Luckily for Roub, (and knock on wood so as not to jinx him) he¢s had shin splints both legs that were terribly painful but he was able to work it out and continue hiking. He¢s lost most of his toenails (EWWW!! And not just once but TWICE!!) But all in all he¢s not letting those things keep him from the trail for more than a day or two. (I¢ll keep praying that he won¢t have any other things that will deter him.Thankfully we live very close to Daleville and the AT goes right through town. That gave me the luxury of being able to see him (and his Tramily = Trail Family). He had the opportunity to hike by day, shower afterwards, and sleep in the comfort of his OWN bed! (He would probably say right now that best of all¢¦they got to enjoy some good eating like at The Homeplace (in Catawaba VA), Golden Corral, the Red Palace¢¦you know all those All You Can Eat places. Those of us that weren¢t hiking were ready to be wheeled out, but the group that was hiking¢¦they were ready for another supper not long after eating. Evidently right now food is wonderful, doesn¢t matter where it comes from, what time it is or what it is. He has definitely worked up quite an appetite (like one would get burning all those extra calories hiking day after day). He¢s lost about 17 pounds, hopefully he can put some of that back where it was before he lost it and find a way keep it on to fuel him on the days to come.He was close enough to home that we could go to ¢Trail Days¢ in Damascus. He walked in the ¢Hiker Parade¢ and we got to take in all the sights and sounds of the trail TOWN in all its glory.   There¢s no rest for the weary though, as anyone hiking knows there is always a lot to do and rarely ever enough time in the day. Downtime consisted of spraying tents and all with the bug repellant, unpacking and repacking to see if he could shed any weight and planning out what comes next.(It was great having him home, even for a short time but it made his leaving again hard. This time there isn¢t a short stay at home planned. He will continue North until Maine and Katahdin. When he left Georgia, I knew that every footstep was bringing him back home. I guess technically it still is; but Maine seems a lot farther away.) Pictures with be posted as well to give an inside view. (Roub did the hard part, it¢s beautiful without the bugs, tired feet or body to accompany it.)From here out the goal is to have a post every day or every other day. When I was posting before somehow I calculated the mileage wrong and between the static and dropped calls there was some confusion as to where he stayed a time or two. I¢m hoping that seeing him and getting to actually have a conversation for more than two minutes will refresh my spirit. I miss him so much and think about him more! Thanks for the patience and understanding. V