Thursday, June 30, 2011

Roanoke, VA

So here I sit using my moms friend Ms. Kristen's computer. I arrived in town earlier this morning and got a room at the howard johnson hotel for $10bucks since im splitting the room with my pals Tyvek and Moose. Hiking has been a blast so far and I'm looking forward to getting farther north.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Virginia Blues

Apparently Tom has the Virginia blues ie; state with most trail miles "550 or so" and a high dropout rate. He seems to be fighting them and sounded upbeat when we spoke to him last night, after not hearing from him for three whole days, which made us somewhat anxious. He has met back up with some pals that he thought were to far ahead and now they are trying to catch up with others that are ahead. He knows who is still hiking and when then they went through an area by looking at the logbooks at each shelter. He is coming up on 700 miles, a little less then a third of the way and the enormity of the undertaking is bearing down on him full force. He is actively trying to lighten his pack down to the barest essentials. He is shedding his hammock and midweight sleeping bag. We are sending him a ultralight TARP for shelter when shelters are out of range and a ultralight summer sleeping bag. The first lady to hike the trail used a shower curtain for coverage! "Grandma Gatewood hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1955 at the age of 67, wearing Keds sneakers and carrying an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain which she carried in a homemade bag slung over one shoulder"   Hank

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Virginia

Been hiking a long while now and it's pretty fun. Iv'e lost 35 pounds of my body and about 8pounds off my pack. Iv'e recently been renamed the rookie, seeing as once Ben got off trail my coaching days were over. I'm currently in Pearisburg, VA staying at my cousin Tam's house, but seeing as I've been in town about three days I'm heading out. This is a short update because the libraries closing. I'll post again soon.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

So we don't have much to update.  We've only had rare updates and/or phone calls from the trail in the past 2 weeks.  Tom has been making more daily miles and as of today he is at 542 miles and camping at the Davis Path campsite north of the Va 683/U.S. 11/I-81 area of Atkins and Marion Va.  That's about all the details I could get out him when he called home this morning while waiting to place his order at the diner where he was with a couple of other hikers, Scout and her husband, Nick.  I suppose his hunger pangs were more important than Mom's million questions!!  We've also been having reception problems as well. 

This is Partnership Shelter on the trail north of Troutdale.  Tom arrived here on Saturday, June 4 and then he took a zero day here on Sunday where he received a massage for his aching leg.  By the end of the week Tom should be hitting the 600 mile mark!  Hike on Tom! 

About Me

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Welcome to our blog. Come and visit and get to know my crazy busy family. First there is me, Tammy, also known as the MOM. And then there is Hank-the Dad. We are the proud parents of 5 wonderful and wacky kids. In order of birth-Nicholas, Thomas, Benjamin, Eleanor, and Maxwell. We are a homeschooling family and we love to explore, travel, and create dynamic family traditions and rituals with our children.