(6/8/19 | Day 94) We took a zero day yesterday. Which meant we got to stay in a hotel last night. My morning "in town" ritual consists of: 1) stuffing my face with as much food as possible, 2) knocking out as much work as possible while I'm sitting still, have internet access, and privacy, 3) doing laundry, 4) packing, 5) resupplying. Then, before wandering out into the wilderness again, we often grabbed a big lunch as well-- which we did this day. We got a lift back to where the AT intersects with route 522 just outside

(6/7/19) I slept pretty well last night. We stayed in a hotel. After a few days out on the trail, sleeping on the ground in your tent, you really learn to appreciate the simple things in life like... a bed to sleep in. Though I slept well I wasn't eager to get up for some reason. As I laid there, I thought about the Appalachian Trail, and why it was so wonderful. Everyone, for the most part, is so kind to one another. Thru-hikers, Day Hikers, Ridge Runners, Trail Angels...everyone. I wondered why. Does this have to do with trail

(6/6/19) I awoke in a small twin size bed in Open Arms Hostel in Luray, VA. My room was shared with two other hikers. One man, one female. It's always interesting sharing sleeping quarters with complete strangers. You never know what could happen. So far my experience has been pretty good though. I slept pretty well. Though the house the hostel was in was built in the early 1940s. The AC wasn't working (or so we were told:)), so we left the windows open all night. The breeze felt pretty good. But the house was right

(6/5/19) I awoke in my tent. It was only 5AM. I slept fairly well. It got a little windy at night but it wasn't too cold. It felt pretty good actually. By 6AM I could hear quite a few people rustling around and packing up. I ate my oatmeal and protein bar and started packing up myself. I had quite a bit of work to do so I knocked that out. I finished packing up, climbed out of my tent, and noticed everyone had left except for myself, Mulligan, Space Jam and

I awoke in a big comfy hotel bed. This is was a nice change after sleeping on the ground in my tent the last few nights on the trail. I took a hot shower-- which felt amazing. Then went downstairs to the lobby for breakfast. I demolished 2 bowls of cereal, 2 honey buns, 4 waffles, and grabbed what I thought was syrup. It ended up being peanut butter. I went ahead and spread it on my waffles anyway. I still needed syrup though. I found a bottle and drenched my waffles. Peanut butter and syrup on waffles,

(6/3/19) Someone said it was supposed to get down in the 40's in town last night. Its typically about 10 degrees cooler up in the mountains. Well, I guess it depends on what mountain you're on top of. The higher the elevation, the colder it gets, typically. So it was supposed to drop down in the 30's where we were tenting. It did get pretty chilly over night. It’s hard to believe it gets this cold in June though. We tented at Big Meadows camp ground. This guy comes up every year from FL to enjoy the cooler temps in