Harpers Ferry

We have been chilling in Harpers Ferry today. We are going to head out to the next shelter once this rain dies down.  Matt had some relatives that came and helped us resupply and got us lunch at Chickfila! Also, we saw Carjacker today! he was with his family in town, but on the trail he is still a couple days behind.  They aquablazed (canoed) on the Shenandoah River but we had so much rain that the river was running super high and it was pretty intense and they had to get back on the trail. We signed in the register at the ATC today as number 64 and 65 for the year. Also we looked through the records and found Matt Marcus's old picture and Justin Smith's old picture. 

Here's to 1000 more!
also, check out some of these blogs:
terrybliss.com
hikingthegoodhike.blogspot.com
prettyeasytoremember.blogspot.com
trailjournals.com/rash
www.postholer.com/andrewrice7
trailjournals.com/BruceSparks
trailjournals.com/chino2013
trailjournals.com/punkinpie

1000 miles!

We had a great day. Woke up this morning and celebrated 1000 miles with Blue Moon, Larryboy, Wide Load, Moose, and Ayce! I packed in a bunch of Yoohoo's and we all had a party. It doesn't feel like it has been that long, the miles have flown by. I still only half believe that I am on this trip! It has been a great journey, and I am happy to think that it is only about half way done. We are in Harper's Ferry tonight, and just had a great dinner with my cousin Elizabeth and her roommates. Also we are done with Virginia, the largest state on the trail!

Who doesn't love tom hanks

Today we made it 22 or so miles to Bears Den hostel. We had a few morning showers but it ended up being a great sunny day.  We hit a section called the "Roller Coaster" known for the steep and back to back ascents and descents, but it wasn't too bad.  Tomorrow we will hit a big milestone and a great trail town... I'll leave you in suspense until the next post but it should be a good one! oh yeah and they have a tv here, we watched "The Terminal" and it was great.  We have been having a good time traveling with ayce, Moose, Wide Load, Larryboy, Blue moon, and Juseppi. Also I saw two snakes and a turtle today, that was pretty cool.

If you wanna hike to Maine you gotta walk in the rain

Steady rain all day (and yesterday for that matter) and that's the forecast for tomorrow. But all is good! We did 23.6 today and are sleeping with good company, Blue Moon and Larryboy. We made it out of Shenandoah National Park today! I'm glad that we will be getting away from Skyline Drive, it was not as much fun hiking near a road for the last week.

A New Mode of Transportation

We had an awesome zero day in Annapolis! We woke up Saturday, had some banana bread Megan made us, then found our new mode of transportation for the trail: segways! We rented segways and Megan gave us a tour around Annapolis. They were so much fun! We went all over the city not even moving our legs and going 3 to 4 times the speed we usually do. If you've never ridden a segway, you need to. They're incredible.

Unfortunately, after an hour we had to give up the segways and walk about a quarter of a mile to lunch. We ate at Chick and Ruth's Delly where Michael and I got 6 pound milkshakes! Tons a people were taking pictures of us and looking through the window at us. I guess we've got pretty nice beards or something. Needless to say, we didn't finish the milkshakes. Michael got about two thirds of the way done but you know, your body can only take so much dairy, so he stopped before he lost it all.

Then we walked back to Megan's place, updated our progress on the blog, and watched a movie. Megan later took us to the grocery store to resupply and we stopped by the Kinney's place to relax by the Chesapeake, but unfortunately they weren't home.

When we got back home, Megan made us an awesome dinner! We had flank steak, asparagus, salad, fresh mangos, and rolls. After dinner, Megan informed us that she and her roommate had Netflix, so we had some ice while we watched a couple movies and office episodes before going to bed pretty late. In the morning, Megan made us some pancakes, eggs with spinach, and some fresh fruit before we had to get in the car and drive the three hours back to the trail.

It was a great break and great to see my sister! Congratulations to everyone who made it through finals week and graduated!

Bears in the Shenandoahs

We are in Annapolis! Matt's sister Megan came and picked us up at mile 913 in the Shenandoah national park. We did a 7 mile day, then a 26, then a 22 to the spot where she picked us up. We are going to zero with her and do some fun stuff around the city. So far, I've seen no bears, even though this national park is supposed to be crawling with them. One animal I have seen is ticks! I've pulled around 6 off of me the past couple days. Every time I pull one off, I try to hide it in Matt's hair because we are having a competition to see who can not get Lyme disease the best.

- Michael

Megan took us to Steak n Shake where my dad surprised us! He was nearby for the weekend so he came over to visit. It was great to see you Dad! Also, thanks to Phillip, Jacob, Claire, my dad, my sister, and my coupons I've been carrying since Springer, I was able to save about $10 at Chickfila the other day where we ate all three of our meals!

- Matt

Two Months on the Trail?

We are chilling on the computers at the learning tree in Waynesboro right now.  We got here yesterday thanks to a 27.2 mile day. We pushed so that we could see Matt's Aunt and Uncle, who not only took us to get dinner and ice cream, but also got us a hotel room! For dinner we had a sweet Chinese buffet, this place is famous among hikers (among non-hikers, it is not so famous). I think we care much more about quantity than quality.  Then, this morning we woke up and made it to Chickfila breakfast! It was the first Chickfila we have seen since the first week on the trail, so we pigged out hard, then waited around and bought lunch there too.  We took care of some resupplying and are gonna head out and do about 7 miles today.  Also, I guess today marks the end of our 2nd month on the trail. That feels weird, time has definitely flown by! We have had such a great time so far, I hope the next 2 months don't go by this fast.  We have done 857 miles, including over 200 miles in the last 10 days.  Which means we are almost 40 percent done!