Nestled next to Interstate 77, between the towns of Bastain and Wytheville, lies the town of Bland. It is small. It is quiet. There is a Courthouse. There is a small Grocery Store. There is a Dairy Queen connected to a gas station. There is a Subway. There is a Post Office. There is a Library which blocks the uploading of pictures. A library of which I am uploading this blog from.
I'm at mile 583 and I'm taking a zero day here in Bland Virginia. The past few days were dry and hot and rough. Virginia does not seem to be the vast flatland that I expected. Nowadays I am in what I believe are the Blue Ridge Mountains and it seems that we are constantly going up 500 ft and then down 500ft, Multiple times each day. Wednesdays day of hiking from Chestnut Bald Shelter ( I might be wrong on that name) to Jenkins shelter... about 12 miles was in my top 5 worst days on the trail so far... It was just DRY. Plain and Simple Dry
hmmmm
let's see the last time I updated I was in Damascus...
Out of Damascus I passed through the Grayson Highlands, which is a terrain that seemed to resemble the Old West. It was quite rocky and treeless and there were "wild" Ponies. (although there seemed to be fences everywhere surrounding the park so I don't know how free roaming they really could have been. It was a nice place and I wish I could upload some photos. Anyways I did 10, 19, 17, 10, 14,12 and then a 12 mile day (most of which I was hiking with Tintin, Fredo and Tornado). So today I'm zeroing and I'm going to enjoy it. I'm staying in the Hotel with Hyway (who I met the second day and is a constant on my journey) He's, married with 3 kids and he's a great guy with a good sense of humour. I'm also splitting the room with Groler Bear (mix between grizzly and polar bear) He's a cool guy as well. Last night in the hotel we watched The Mummy Curse of the Dragon "something" it was absolutely horrible,,, The type of movie that you just laugh at how stupid some of the dialogue is. There was a scene with Yetis that was just mind boggling how people could come up with that stuff....
Anyway,, I'm looking ahead to Shenandoah which is around mile 800 I believe.
I'm really bummed I can't post pictures, but I hope everyone is well and I'll try to update this the next time I can. Thanks for reading.
Kashmir******************
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Hey Kashmir. I don't know if you remember me but I'm Fredo's girlfriend. It's great to hear that you all or doing so well. Fredo doesn't get to update that much so I try to keep up with the group as a whole. Keep it up and don't get the Virginia blues..you guys are doing great!! You can make it!!! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Amanda,,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement... I was hiking with Fredo, Tintin and Tornado for about 3 or 4 days until we got to Bland.. and then I took a zero. Now I'm sure they are at least a few days ahead.. I was pretty dissapointed when I heard that they would not be coming back to trail Days,,,