From the beautiful trailside town of Damascus, VA

Thats right, you read correctly. We made it to Virginia! We are currently stationed out of a small hiker hostel called "The Place" in the small town of Damascus. The trail runs through the town. I get like 45 minutes on the public library computer here so my musings must be limited. I think I may be pulling my first real valuable experience from the trail now : Patience, patience, patience. If its not a tough 3000 foot ascent, its a debilitating stomach bug, or almost as bad, RAIN. Its a curse word out here. When it rains, you get wet, really wet. Everything does. You wake up and nothing dries, because of the high humidity of the "mountain ecology" as Chris aptly calls it. So I'll give a brief recap since Hot Springs, NC.
Day 1: Hiked a 19.6 to a rainy shelter late the night of our town departure, I spent a long time trying to get my bear bag up in the tree and was quite flustered. The 3 other thru hikers in the shelter found this amusing. it is really quite neat how you develop an instant bond with the other thru hikers out here. Our experiences are all very similar though we range from college crazies going at warp speed to retirees just waiting to heal up from their long 10 milers in town. Some people go into town for 4-5 days at a time! day 2: big rainy day into a shelter with a couple of section hikers and a very informative former thru-hiker from Kentucky. He directed us to some great upcoming places on the trail. We also met "Dallas" here, a thru hiker from aforementioned place who had never heard of UD, Chris' former alma mater. Day3 : I think about 20 miles into the worst shelter of all. Inhabitants: an Ivory tower sounthern doctorate wannabe and a Tennessee whiskey blooded ole' fightin rebel who chose to pack heat (carry a handgun) to the shelter. That night I puked up twice and fell very ill. Day4: I pushed my aching self to my limits 6.3 miles to a hostel on the awesome nolichucky river called Uncle Johnny's. Here I was able to rest up and get better while Chris got us a food resupply and ate his butt off at the local KFC buffet (yes, they have buffets down here). We then found out that Dallas was leaving the trail for life as an USAF tech in Flo rida and Nick from GA caught back up to us. Day 5: Pushed out our first marathon! Pretty uneventful day. I really wish I could describe the views and such but you just have to come down here and see it. I even forgot to mention Max Patch, this amazing 360 bald. Day 6: Chris got the same thing I got. we first climbed the last 6000 footer until NH: Roan. And that was a tough climb, but rewarded with a parking lot and little views, yay! But the way down was gorgeous: dense pine forest with granite, probably like what Maine will be like. Then we went out to the best stretch of views I think yet, the round bald and jane bald. It was amazing, except that I was cleaning up a trail of Chris sickness. Day 7: after a short finish we hiked into mountaineer falls. we hitched this day into elk park, nc and got some gatorade for chris and met a lady who works as a nursing home admin in Roan Mtn, Tn. That night we met Jeremiah johnson (real name), who was awesome and also a professional vagrant. He had left his "crap" in Ohio to bike around Cali. He ended up on the PCT hiking 1400 miles. Now hes onto the AT. Day 8: Another marathon in Watauga Lake. there was a really beautiful section on the laurel forks river valley with a 100ft waterfall. at the end of the day we got Trail Magic from some locals at the local lake beach (Watauga) Hot Dogs, Burgers, watermelon, tatr salad,great. Then it was an attempt at a 40 miler into this town. We git some night rain and chickened out at 28 miles in some shelter which is not even in the books. Just enough space for Chris and I. Day 9, Today we have walked across the TN/VA border and into this town for showers, ample food, and resupply, and this. The hike feels a whole lot more real than it did 20 days ago. We now have much more invested and our bodies are well adapted for the trail. The dirt and grime really never gets comfortable, nor does the foot pain. The people keep us going and the trail always seems to pay you back for the hard miles. Everyone out here: from townfolk to section hikers, treat you like the kings of the trail. So much happens, like we just saw another bear up a tree and sprinted (it was a cub, so momma prolli wasnt far) Well, im out of time. Have a wonderful week, I will update when I can. Jack.