Daleville, VA to Buena Vista, VA

Mile 810

After resupplying in Daleville on Tuesday morning (great selection at the grocery store, a nice change of pace from some of the small hick towns we've been in) and an early lunch at Wendy's, we did a half day out of town.  Somehow we didn't get rained on, even though we could hear thunder almost the whole time we were hiking.  We planned on some aggressive days to put us on track to meet my parents at a specific shelter on Friday night, and dubbed the upcoming week "Power Week".  Beau was partial to "Hell Week", but I wanted a more positive connotation. And actually, it would be more accurate to call it "Power 3 Days", or "Hike 66 Miles in Three Days". Anyway.

Power Week went well despite an ominous forecast, and we continued to dodge rainstorms while other hikers just a few miles before or after us got wet.  Highlights:
- Staying in the super nice two story Bryant Ridge shelter
- Seeing a freaking RATTLESNAKE on the trail. Beau and I were walking along playing a game we made up (I'll get into that another time) and I stopped short because a 4 foot snake was stretching the trail about 10 feet ahead of us.  I quickly noticed the distinct patterns and oh, I don't know, the rattle on the tail and concluded we probably wanted to stay away from this one. The two of us and another hiker were forced to skirt around the trail, too close to the snake for my comfort, to continue on. Let me tell you, that rattle-y sound they make with their tail is a frightening noise.
- Getting stung by a bee for the first time in my life. I recovered.
- The grand finale, my parents coming to visit!

We are currently in Buena Vista, Virginia. Buena Vista is a trail town and also coincidentally home to Southern Virginia University, an Mormon affiliated school where I attended EFY years ago.  Beau had never seen the campus so we stopped by and looked around.

My dad arranged for us to stay at a family friend's home who lives here and is out of town for the weekend.  We went to church this morning and will get back on the trail late this afternoon for a short day... and then into the Shenandoah's we go! Just about two more weeks till Harper's Ferry!