The current caretakers, Neville and Michael are earthy people who offer sustainable gardening, meditation, massage therapy, communal dining, do beekeeping, and a offer a whole host of other services. The Hostel was established in 1986 by Tilly and Roy Wood. The farmhouse itself was built in the late 1800'.
They keep Tilly and Roy's dream alive offering not only a bunkhouse and food for thru hikers, but welcoming people in general looking to get back in sync with nature.
Much fun was had by all. Just as an example, breakfast for them consisted of sweet rice with yogurt and elderberry jam, egg scramble, and homemade bread with homemade apple butter. It is considered by many who have thru hiked and stayed there to be one of the if not the best places to overnight or zero while hiking the trail.
Plans were to blow right through Pearisburg, Va. but they were waylaid in town to resupply. Today is a 23 miler to try and catch up. If my calculations are right that should put them into Baily Gap Shelter 650.4 NoBo at the end of the day today.
Last week was a week of drizzly days and rain filled nights. They went through days and days of putting on weather gear because it is drizzling, getting hot because of the high humidity after the rain stops, taking the rain gear back off again, and putting it back on again a short time later because it started drizzling again. Every night has been rain, but Melissa prefers rain at night rather than daylight. Her legs are all chewed up from bug bites.
But the weather has turned again and they are back to the sun filled warm spring days in Virginia.
They have exploded way past 600 miles and are still truckin strong. I do have an injury report to give however. Jordan seems to have developed a slight limp. Melissa noticed it Thursday. But when she took off his pack to let him walk with less weight, he turned into Tripwire the puppy and was running through the woods and all around like there was no problem. The next day after putting his pack back on him, after their mid-day stop on the top of a mountain, Backtrack seemed to have had his limp recur. Only time will tell if this is just a 'walk it off' issue, a superb fakeout by Jordan to get his mom to carry his load, or a real problem that needs to be addressed.
Melissa has also turned her ankle over for the second time. She had soaked it after the first time a week or so ago and it was just feeling better when WHAM!! it rolled over again. But injuries are common on the trail and unless you have something break or are gushing blood, you suck it up and keep packing on the miles. The trail teaches you to ignore pain early on, and twisted ankles, bunk knees, achy legs, sore backs, etc.. are par for the course. If it turned out to be serious, Hollywood is smart enough to either zero a few days or come off the trail if need be. So do not worry too much for her my faithful readers. Same thing for Backtrack.
I have my marching orders for the next shipment: 10 days food to the Howard Johnson Express in Daleville Va. Again, I don't know if it's is just a pickup or if they are staying the night there. They have been putting on so many miles and changing plans to suit it that even they don't know where they will wind up at the end of the days hike. The Woods Hole shipment did make it in time for them to pick up. Cookies are always a sweet treat to find in the food cache. By the way, Myles and Liz, when you read this, Melissa asked me to see if you can dehydrate4 some regular food for putting into the care packages in lieu of cookies, dehydrated fruit, veggies and meals would be appreciated even more if you are able to do it.
Just think of it 52 days on the trail and they are at mile 650. That isn't including the miles to get to Springer Mountain, and all the miles they hike off the trail to fetch water, set up camp, go into town, etc.. Their overall per day average will start to climb quickly now that 20 mile days are becoming more common. A quick text from her this morning gave me her location and they had a nice 10 mile stretch of completely flat ground to enjoy between two relatively steep gap sections.
They are putting on so many miles that they have left all their friends in the dust. Everyone who hikes the trail does it at different paces for different reasons. The group had met up with and kept pace with six to ten people they were kind of building a pack with. But when several decided to quad zero for Trail Days and others just couldn't keep up pace, they have long since waved goodbye to them. But for every trail friend left behind, there is a new one is gained. And in typical Melissa fashion, she will get to know as many as possible and expand her vast worldwide list of friendships even further.
This was another long one, but there was a lot to catch you up on. Until next check in, keep the positive thoughts going for them, feel free to comment and be sure to keep sending words of encouragement to them on their Facebook pages as well as here on the blog.
Thanks again for taking the time to do this so we can all follow Melissa & Jordan on their big adventure. Your writing is so descriptive I feel like I'm peeking over their shoulders! I've been posting on her FB page, but please if you remember, please tell her her "PENSCO Peeps" send their love - especially me, Doreen. LOL
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