We are just past Pearisburg, VA. Greg came out with us for Memorial Weekend. He only got to hike 20 miles with us. We got distracted at the Hiker Feed at the Captain's. It was totally worth it. Food, beer, music and a zipline across the river! The next day we realized we couldn't make it to the road in time so we took a shuttle back to Pearisburg and spent the day lazing about. I think he may have gotten the wrong impression about hiking the AT. I swear it is not a 6 month long party!! Now it's time for Greg to go :( and it's time for these girls to get their butts back on track! Of note: last week we hiked 99 miles in 6 days. We did our longest day ever at 23.9 miles.

We' ve made it 1/4 of the way in 1/3 the time! Looks like we'll have to hike a little faster! We are just past Bland, Virginia. Only 1,594 miles to go!

Our trail names!

BTW if anyone ever needs to get a hold of us on the trail you need to know our names: My trail name is P.C. (Politically Correct) and Kara goes by Ros (Rain-pants of shame). Hardly anyone out here knows our real-world names!!

500 Miles!

Yesterday we hit 500 miles! We have completed three states (Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee). We had fun last weekend at Trail Days in Damascus, VA. The First Baptist church there was AMAZING. They gave the hikers free showers, free food, free medical attention, free foot massages and new socks! We also got a free hand knit beanie from the church ladies! Kara and I bought Hennessy Hammocks - they are so comfy. They are like a tent and hammock in one. I can finally sleep on the trail after 7 uncomfortable weeks. Greg came out for the weekend and brought Mr. McCarthy and another buddy. It was a crazy fun weekend and I was so sad when it was over :( I had too much party this weekend and now I am sick. I thought it was just a cold but I'd bet money that I have a fever. We did 5 miles today and I think we are going to walk down the road to the church hostel and chill out for the night. We have been wet for the last 4 days and I am looking forward to drying my stuff out. Yesterday we went through Grayson Highlands State Park, it's supposed to have some of the prettiest views on the trail. All we saw was fog and rain. We did get to see some ponies, one licked my hand and I pet one of the foals. We're still having fun even though this week has been fairly miserable, hopefully the sun will come out soon!

Erwin, TN

We have made it 340 miles on the trail in 5 weeks. I am officially off the crutches!! I am so excited to start hiking with trekking poles again!! To date we have completed Georgia, hiked the tallest point on the trail, and completed the Smoky Mountains!! We have major farmer's tans but Gregory took us shopping so these girls will now be sporting tank tops (hopefully to tan the tops of our arms) and visors (to stop tanning our faces!). The tornadoes that came through didn't hit near us. We did have some storms but they weren't even that bad. One night during a storm a small tree branch fell right next to my tent and scared the crap out of me, but nothing major.
As far as weight loss goes - not a pound :( All of the guys on the trip are dropping major pounds right now but not us! I'm not worried about it because even though the scale hasn't noticed I can tell that we have both slimmed down around the middle and my legs are more muscle.
Both of us are pretty lucky in the foot department. No major blisters or grossness. I had a heel blister at mile 150 and Kara has had a few hot spots but that's all.
Right now we are taking 2 zero days (no hiking on zero days) in Erwin, TN. We just hiked 8 days straight to get here and are thoroughly enjoying the time off!