Date: 2014-06-06
From: Daleville, Va

To: Buena Vista, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Hello Everyone!The Slay women are here in Buena Vista, VA! We thought we'd update from our perspective and let Jon update from he and his Dads.We have been car supporting the boys since Daleville, VA. Basically, we drop the boys off in the morning where we picked them up the night before, and we get to explore the towns we are in! We then pick them up from the trail, wherever it crosses a road, and take them back to camp with us for the night. It's been fun but also a lot of work. Our first two nights we stayed in Daleville, VA in the Howard Johnson just off the trail. We were waiting for the boys as they came out of the woods! It was so great seeing them, although they were super smelly! As soon as we got back to the room, they showered and we started laundry. That night, we went to dinner at The Homeplace! It was a fantastic family style buffet with fried chicken, ham, roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, peas, and more! We went with a couple other hikers and had a blast. Saturday, Alice and Brian came up to see us! We went to Troutville Trail Days and hung out for a bit. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed having them here! We did dinner together that night at Three Little Pigs BBQ, which was also delicious! Jon and I stopped in the Goodwill to pick up an outfit for he and Duke to wear in the doggy dash the next day too!Sunday, we loaded up the truck with all of our gear including food for a week. That was a huge undertaking, as we had a ton of stuff. But we somehow managed to get it all in and went over to Dog Days at the park. Jon and Duke participated in a doggy Dash wearing their matching green T-shirts. It was a blast to watch as Jon ran Duke around the obstacle course. There were a surprising number of people doing it! Jon and Duke took the lead, but a little girl and her dog were trying hard to overtake them. Jon let the little girl win and he Duke came in second place! Turns out they gave prizes for the best matched dog and owner and Jon and Duke won! We received a gift card for the grocery store and a couple treats for Duke! A total success! Afterwards we drove up to our campsite and got set up. It was a great day and good rest for the boys.The first day after we dropped them off, we had a few errands to run before going back to camp. The boys took Duke so we were on our own and flew through our chores in no time! I was able to get a Gazeteer (which is an in depth map of Virginia that includes all the Forrest Service roads, so we can figure out how to get to where the trail crosses roads. Thank you Kent and Nancy for the tip - it's been priceless). We then went to lay by the lake at our campground (Cave Mountain) to enjoy the sun. It was a beautiful sandy beach on a fairly large lake with clear but cold water. Susie made some friends and we had a great time relaxing. Afterwards, we took showers (they had very nice facilities there) and went to get our men. The road to pick them up was paved but steep and winding around those Virginia Mountains. It was fun! Plus we got to see some spectacular views and a hedgehog on the side of the road! Unfortunately, we missed the brown hiker sign on the side of the road and ended up going a good distance out of our way. But we finally found them and took them back to camp for a good dinner and showers, of course!The next day, after we dropped the boys off, Susie and I explored the town of Buchanan. They had a beautiful footbridge that went over the James River. We walked out on it and were able to see a family of turtles sunning and some cool looking fish! We then went back to camp to plan out the rest of the week as far as pickup points and to make dinner. Susie cooked a delicious roast over the fire! The fire must have been extremely hot because at one point dinner went from smelling amazing to smelling burnt. We had to add a bit more water, but it turned out great in the end! When we went to get the boys that night, we had to travel a very long, winding, and steep gravel road. It wasn't bad getting up, but going down was a little scary. We could smell the brakes burning up! But we made it safe and sound! Tuesday night, we were awakened by a terrible thunderstorm. Jon and my three man backpacking tent fell, as usual and leaked in through every mesh opening there was. I felt so bad for Jon because he had to go out in the torrential downpour to fix it. He was soaked when got back in. We had to use our sheet to dry him off and dry up the bottom of the tent. Kent and Susie fared even worse. Their tent leaked through the top! It was basically raining inside their tent! They had to abandon ship and jump in the truck. It was interesting the next morning when we got up to survey the damage. Lets just say it took Susie and I four loads of laundry and a lot of time to resurrect our camp. We ended up going to Wal-Mart to get new tents that day after we dropped off the boys. There was no way any of us wanted to go through that again!It rained again all day Thursday, so we were very happy to have new tents! Unfortunately, Kent and Susie's leaked again (thankfully just at the bottom), so once again we headed to Wal-Mart to return it and get a new one. We also had to pack up camp and find a new one closer to where we were picking the boys up that night.That was an adventure! We found one that looked nice on the website, but in reality was awful! It was dirty, run down, poorly maintained and just gross. We nixed it and started calling other places to see if they had room. For various different reasons, many of them wouldn't work for us. WE even drove all the way out to one that turned out to be closed. So we went to the final option which is a campground behind a truck stop! Turns out it is pretty nice! We have a great grassy spot up on a hill with a great view of a green field. The only drawback is that we are right by the highway. Its a little loud, but not bad otherwise! I'll have to post a picture of it later today. You'll never believe we are behind a truck stop! Well the library computer is about to kick me off. I'll try to get Jon to post asap. Have a great day!