Wild turkeys and historic homes...

Lexington, VA, a historic Hampton Inn, and hitting the 800 mile mark...what's not to love? Not to mention we have witnesses to prove it! We arrived here on tired legs and were so glad to be greeted by Jordan's awesome family: mom, stepdad, and Uncle Tim! They'd been cruising the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped through Lexington to treat us to a hotel room, delicious food, and motorcycle ride. I must say, riding on the back of a motorcycle wearing a 40 pound pack is an awesome way to get around....although it's a little tough on the abs! (thanks Tim, you rock! P.S.-the parade was on Sunday)

After cruising around, we made our way back to the beautiful Hampton Inn, which was originally the historic home of a prominent Virginia politician and located on a huge hill of the greenest grass and biggest trees I've ever seen! We were glad to be spending the day showering, shaving, and just feeling like human beings again (as opposed to dirty, grimy, hiker aliens, I suppose). The previous few days on the Trail hadn't been too tough, but had seemed long and we were glad to be in town! It could have something to do with the fact that we managed to pick up 2 garbage bags full of recycling on the road by the Trail AND be scared out of our minds by a crazy sprinting turkey right before we made it to Lexington! Oh, the trials and tribulations of trail life! :)

On a gear oriented note:
Our 100% recycled Mountainsmith packs are amazing so far and it feels so good to be getting more and more gear that's environmentally friendly (it's out there, all you have to do is look! Or in this case, just take our advice!). Our Leki poles and Sprint phone are also still rocking our worlds, without which we'd be legless and internet deprived. :) Thanks everyone!

One last thing: a big HELLO out there to all the friends, family, and kids who are keeping up with our journey. Your support means the world to us! Thanks for all you do!


Until next time, happy trails...

Wow, what a view!

Well gang, here we are, on top of beautiful McAfee Knob at mile 700 and I have to say: it feels good! We're moving right along and are now about one-third of the way to Maine....if you can believe it! (most times, we can't!) Since we're sitting here enjoying the gorgeously sunny day, relaxing and eating homemade goodies, we wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to everyone who's sent goodies, well wishes, and prayers.

So here it is: thank you! You have all been fabulous and really give us the motivation and inspiration to keep on keepin' on! Especially the folks at Keep America Beautiful (Rob Wallace is our hero) who believe in our green dream and our family and friends....Kelly Grant among the top of that list for her great postcards, packages, yummy food, and just plain awesomeness! (Larry, don't worry, you're next on our list of "can you pretty pretty please send homemade goodies before we pass out or start stealing cookies from other hikers" list! :))

A special thanks this week to Jordan's wonderful mom, whose continual support and care packages keep us from going hungry or crazy and to a certain Jennifer Wise for her absolute uncanny ability to follow directions while simultaneously being awesome! Also a big virtual hug and thank you to my amazing big sister for never saying no to the many favors we ask and for taking time out of her busy schedule and marathon training (congrats on the big finish!) to send copious amounts of dehydrated meals (we know they aren't cheap), cookies, and music (I'm loving the 80's!). I love you!

For those of you feeling a little left out ("but I want my name in a blog, too!) and are just dying to send us a little love on the Trail in baked goods form, send us an email and we'll let you know what we're craving and how to get it to us. ;)

Trek.against.trash@gmail.com

Crazy Hiker Reunion, aka TRAiL DAYS!

Damascus. 3 days. Thousands of thru-hikers, past and present. Hundreds of gear vendors. Deliciously fattening food. Bonfires. Live music. This is the basis for Trail Days, a hiker extravaganza that we'd been hearing about for weeks now and couldn't wait to be a part of!

We arrived earlyish, before all the real mayhem began, and set up our tent in "tent city" (yes, it's REALLY called that) amongst hundreds of other tents (and an alarmingly large number of port-o-potties!). For three days it was relax, indulge, and shop as we caught up with a bunch of our long-lost trail friends who we hadn't seen in weeks! Bogey, Slim, Shutterbug, Hot Wheels, and Big Corley thanks for being so awesome and it was great to catch up!

It was a crazy few days (give hikers a bonfire and good food and hiker midnight turns into 3 am!) that flew by thanks to the town of Damascus and everyone involved! It was great to see our friends at Leki (thanks for giving our trekking poles some much needed love and new parts!) and Sprint and I want to give a big THANKS to Backpacker magazine as well! They gave away 20 great prize packages and I was lucky enough to have my name drawn!

Thanks again to everyone who makes Trail Days possible and we can't wait to see everyone next year! (ps-there are more great pictures to come!)

Three cheers (and two recycled backpacks!) for Mountainsmith!

Hey everyone! We are super excited to be writing this blog in an effort to extend our many, many thanks to an amazing company and their amazing RECYCLED gear that they have so graciously donated to our cause. So everyone at home, please clap along with us in this virtual standing ovation to Mountainsmith, for being so awesomely green and generous! We love our new 100% recycled packs!!!! Anyone who loves multi-day backpacking AND Mother Earth, check out the Mountainsmith Boundary (Jordan's) and the Trillium (mine)...not to mention the numerous other rockin' recycled packs they have for ANY occasion you have planned (or have yet to plan)! Check them all out at www.mountainsmith.com and we'll keep you updated on just how awesome they are. Thanks again Mountainsmith!

We also want to extend a continued thanks to our other fabulous supporters, Leki and Sprint! Without you guys, we'd have no knees and no way to tell everyone about our adventure. Thanks guys!

Ode to Great Shoes.

So long, farewell, goodbye, and thank you! You have been so good to us; always there for support and comfort, never afraid of the challenges we faced. You had absolutely no say as we carefully and painstakingly selected you to be the thankless bearers of mile after mile of tough terrain. Nor did you protest as you endlessly headed North day after day, and never once did you complain as you were excitedly tossed aside for your decidedly more cute and squishy siblings, Crocs, the second we arrived at camp. And don't worry, we don't blame you at all when you intentionally got heavier, too tight, and uncomfortable every day during miles fifteen through twenty....making us trip, okay namely ME trip, repeatedly in an effort to get us to relent and set up camp already.

Now that we've thoroughly used and abused you, it's time to say goodbye. What's that they say? All good things must come to an end? Well unfortunately this is it. We appreciate everything you've done in helping us get to mile 700, but alas, our partnership ends here as we trade you in for a younger, more lightweight model. Hello new trail runners!

Trail Magic and the Almost Tragic

Once we hit that memorable mile 544, it was no rest for the weary as we continued on towards Pearisburg, Virginia. Unfortunately, our hike was anything but average.

A few days before we were to reach Pearisburg, we came across a dirt road and TRAIL MAGIC! There was a man there from the local church filling up a cooler with juice and soda. We had thanked him and were just about to move on when he asked us if we had heard about the "trouble" just up ahead of us on the Trail.

I guess he could tell from the confused looks on our faces that we had no idea what he was talking about so he began to tell us about a shooting on the Trail about 20 miles ahead of us that had happened just the day before. We were completely shocked and a little frightened, even though he assured us that the man was in custody.

As it turns out, this man, Randall Smith, was the same man who had shot and killed two hikers at almost the exact same spot in 1981, and had since gone to jail, gotten out on parole, and years later managed to do almost the same exact thing. Luckily, the two men he shot last week didn't die from their wounds and are currently recovering. Unfortunately for Randall Smith, he died in jail just a few days later, putting to rest anyone's fears that he might somehow be able to commit the same crime yet a again.

Due to the area being a crime scene, we were unable to hike through the 20 miles where Randall Smith had been (nor did we want to!) and got a ride into Pearisburg from a local. As we walked around town looking for the hostel, a newspaper reporter and his photographer approached us to interview us about the incident. Needless to say we didn't know too many of the details, only what we had learned from our Trail Angel, so we were quite surprised when we walked into the gas station the next day to find our picture and quotes on the front page of The Roanoke Times (roanoke.com, the 5/12 edition).

Next up on our agenda? TRAIL DAYS! Our plan is to be right around Catawba and charm some drivers into taking us back south to Damascus ("the friendliest town on the trail") to enjoy all the hiker-related festivities. We absolutely can't wait to see what all the fuss is about...and don't worry, we'll take lots of pictures!

Movin' on up! Mile 544 and counting...

Hey all! This is a very fun, fabulous, and important posting as it marks the official "one quarter-of-the-way-finished" point of our Appalachian Trail adventure. No, unfortunately there were no fireworks spelling out congratulations, no celebrities there to pat us on the back, and no 5-star restaurant available to cater to our every craving. As usual, it was just Jordan and me and our big ole backpacks, but now we have something else; a genuine feeling of accomplishment.

On a journey like this, of so many steps, sometimes it's difficult to feel like we're making progress, even one step at a time. Never again!

From this point forward, when we look at a map we don't have to point a measley 2 millimeters above the very spot where we began our journey MONTHS ago and say a little dejectedly, oh look, here we are....wow, we're really moving. Now we can stand on the top of every mountain we climb, take those heavy backpacks off and yell, scream, and yodel at the top of our lungs... because we are so proud to be out here and we want the world to know: we're really and truly getting there!

Progress Report!

Attention please! This message is for anyone curious as to where in the heck we are, anyone who loves us, friends, family, anyone just stopping by, pets who can read (impressive!), and anyone who's a member of a group I didn't already mention. :) We are exhaustedly excited to announce that we have officially made it past the 500 mile mark! After about a month and a half on the Trail, we did it! Of course we still have about 1600 miles to go, but don't worry; we'll make it! Our mileage continues to go up weekly and on a typical day now we do anywhere between 15 and 20 miles....depending on the elevation changes we encounter. (and how much peanut butter we can manage to get down: instant energy!)

Onto other Trail related facts! The fall count is as follows:

Gucci-6
Bearfoot-0

I know, it seems rigged to me, too! But alas, the numbers don't lie. Why this is important? A certain bet proposed by a certain UN-clumsy someone and foolishly accepted by a certain apparently VERY clumsy someone. Basically, if I fall more than 15 times before Maine, fancy schmancy dinner when we finish is on me. If I don't manage to fall that many times before Katahdin (look at the numbers people, it doesn't look good) then dinner, my choice, paid for courtesy of Mr. Jordan Price. Keep your fingers crossed that my balance miraculously gets better from here on out!

Damascus: The Friendliest Town on The Trail!

Hello hello! Just popping in to update everyone on our past week or so! First: Damascus! We had been anticipating our arrival into Damascus for quite some time now...afterall it was to be our first stop in Virginia...and we weren't disappointed! The AT leads you directly through town, past Mt. Rogers Outfitters (famous along the Trail!), an italian restaurant, and so many bed and breakfasts that it's almost impossible to choose just one! We quickly found our way to The Place, a hostel located directly in the center of town and run entirely on donations to the Methodist Church. We dropped our stuff and did what we always do upon entering ANY town: EAT! After sufficiently stuffing ourselves at the aforementioned Italian restaurant it was all business as we headed to MRO to get some warm weather gear! (after too many freezing mornings, warm weather was something I wanted to celebrate profusely...by buying a new wardrobe, obviously!) After getting what we needed from there, we headed to the other, equally fabulous and famous outfitter on the other side of town, SunDog! Thanks so much to Shelley for not only carrying gear to make our trip more comfortable, but for making us look good while we do it! That's a feat all on its own!

We also had the great opportunity while in Damascus to meet up with some really "green" folks who make what we're doing seem easy: Christine, Bobby, Mrs. Price and her class, and even though we didn't get to meet her personally, Carol....because we just KNOW if she's involved with Keep America Beautiful she MUST be awesome! Thanks so much to everyone for being so helpful and inspiring! They cheered us on as we were taped by the local news channel, WCYB, for a clip that rolled later that evening. We watched it from the best bed and breakfast in town: Miss Jinny's Lazy Fox! Not only is she she sweetest most adorable little lady in Damascus, but she makes a mean breakfast, too! We are definitely looking forward to seeing everyone back in Damascus the 16th-18th for Trail Days!

Damascus was a great pit-stop for us but we were, as always, anxious to get back on the Trail! It was waiting for us as expected and we welcomed it with open arms. This is, after all, our life!