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[at-l] FWD by Milt for Ron & Cheryl

From: "Ron & Cheryl" <solemates98@hotmail.com>
Subject: Solemates in Waynesboro, VA
Content-Type: text/plain
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 06:51:15 PDT

     Well,  here we are, over 200 miles from Pearisburg, VA in only 2 
days. No, we didn't hike 2 100-mile days (not yet anyway) :-) We decided 
that we would leap-frog North to where we "should" be according to our 
"tentative" schedule when we first planned this hike. So, after hiking 7 
miles North out of Pearisburg, we spent the night at Star Haven Shelter 
and on Mother's Day we hiked 7 miles South back into Pearisburg, got a 
ride to Blacksburg, walked 7 miles on the road to Christiansburg, got a 
ride from there to Troutville, spent the night in Troutville, got a ride 
(in an 18-wheeler!) to Greenville, and 2 more rides got us into 
Waynesboro Monday (5/11) afternoon.

      Several reasons for what we did - a few more days of rest so Ron 
can fully recover from his cold, Cheryl's daughter will be joining us 
for a week or more when school gets out and we want to be closer to 
Massachusetts when that happens, Cheryl got a letter from her former 
empoloyer asking her to come back to work in the fall, we were getting 
discouraged with our slow progress and the rotten weather and Cheryl 
almost said "I've had it. Let's go home.". This is a better alternative. 
We're "back on track" and will proceed from here.

      It was better to make  the decision now than to wait until we were 
so far behind that we just said "the heck with it". We're both very 
happy with this decision - we're hiking our hike and doing whatever we 
need to do to continue enjoying being out here.

      We've had almost 2 solid weeks of rain and it's quite 
discouraging. Alot of hikers, along with us, are so tired of slogging 
through the muddy trails, trying to cross swollen creeks, picking our 
way along wet rocks, and attempting to smile while doing the above. 

     If we receive our maildrop packages today we will head out 5/13 and 
will actually be 2 or 3 days ahead of "schedule". The weather continues 
to look lousy (it's raining right now) but we're feeling optimistic 
about the rest of  our hike. Cheryl's knees are feeling great - a little 
achy with all the dampness, but no more pain!!! Poison ivy is all 
cleared up (finally). Ron's feeling much better but will have to build 
up slowly, as he hasn't hiked much in the last week. We appreciate all 
the encouragement we have been receiving from family, friends and even 
total strangers. It means alot to us! 

Cheryl & Ron

     Solemates
Appalachian Trail '98
   Georgia to Maine

Solemates Home Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/3876

Our Trail Journal - Available after March 1, 1998
http://trailplace.com/c98journals/225gaudreau/index.html

Other "Class of '98" Trail Journals:
http://trailplace.com/c98journals/anniversary.html


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