3D's: Dollar Store, Donations & "Deliverance"

New pics uploaded at http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010/VirginiaATHike#

Sitting in a Laundromat in Front Royal, VA trying to wash the stink out of our gear and clothing, Jeff holds up his phone and smiles as a tune plays. “Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River, Life is old there…. Blah, blah, blah… country roads, take me home, to the place I belongggggg…” Ahhhh, John Denver. We laughed because we’d just finished the Blue Ridge Mountains and were presently washing the stink of the Shenandoah River out of our clothes. Life is good. Now for the blog, lets talk about the 3D’s.
  

Dollar Stores:

It only took us a few weeks to realize that we could fully re-supply ourselves for the trail at any type of Dollar Store. We have, however, more recently learned that not all dollar stores are created equally. At first we were partial to Dollar General, but soon realized that things there didn’t just cost a dollar… they were simply in whole dollar amounts. Northern Virginia has made present more Dollar Tree’s and 99 Cent Stores, which are awesome because everything are those prices. Both stores remind me of Northern California, but I never quite appreciated them as much as I do now. Yesterday the entirety of what the two of us ate in one day cost us exactly $3.50. Awesome.

Donations:

For the most part we’ve tried to keep this blog to just blogging, but now nearing the halfway point it is good to remember that we are doing it for a cause. We’d both like to sincerely thank those of you who are following our blog, and those of you who have gotten involved by donating to our charity LIVESTRONG. Whether you have had Cancer or not, I am 100% sure that you know someone who has, and that makes us all “affected” by it -- thank you to those of you who have shared your stories with us -- it gives us inspiration to push on. When we set out on this journey we hoped to raise what we could for Lance Armstrong’s Foundation, LIVESTRONG, but never imagined we would have raised over $7,500. Thank you so much for the support and encouragement. If you are financially able to donate, and any little bit counts, we would deeply appreciate you doing so by going to our website http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and clicking the “donate online” or “donate by mail” buttons. Plus, when you donate you instantly get postcards from us on the trail! :0)

Deliverance:

Yes, like the 1972 movie, Deliverance is a film about four guys going on a canoe trip in deep backwoods America and getting harassed by all the inbred, creepy locals. Well, Jeff never told me about Deliverance and convinced me that a multi-day backwoods canoe trip was just the thing to break up the monotony of the trail. After hearing about “Aqua-Blazing” from several hikers, we decided to substitute about 100 miles of trail for several days of canoeing down the Shenandoah River, effectively missing the section of the AT that goes through Shenandoah National Park. The trip was awesome: flat water paddling, Class II rapids, and riverside camping! It was such a great time except for Jeff clueing me into the plot of Deliverance, which I had never seen, after we had started our adventure. For two nights straight I had nightmares of crazy banjo playing locals chasing me down the riverside! Arrgghh!!! Anyways, we did not encounter any whacko’s luckily. We feel good about our decision and thoroughly exhausted after the trip (paddling 20 miles in a day is tougher than we thought). The outfitter that set us up with our canoe said a group of thru-hikers had been through there that week and told them that the Appalachian Trail Conservancy now considered canoeing the Shenandoah as an “official replacement” for the miles missed while canoeing. We are pretty sure that is a pipe dream of said thru-hikers, but agree that it will work for us this go around!

In the morning we start out from Front Royal, VA at mile 960, our stopping point on the river this morning. What does this mean? It means we are few days away from 1000 miles and Harpers Ferry, WV! From there we will attempt the “Quad State Challenge,” where we hike over 40 miles from the border of Virginia to the border of Pennsylvania all in one day. Thats right. 40+ miles! Borderline Insanity? Perhaps.

By the way, Jeff has been looking in the mirror and curling the ends of his moustache into one of those old-time curly-q mustaches for the past half hour. He thinks in another week it will be “perfect.” LOL. That beard is getting LONG!

Later!
~Styx & Bones
  
P.S. Not to forget, we were fortunate enough to catch up with Bruce and Karen Langevin in Charlottesville, VA before we hit the river!  Thank you both for meeting up with us and showing us around town!