400 Miles!!!

7/23
Started at Symms Gap Meadow
Ended at VA 613
15 miles

I woke up this morning at our normal 6:30 time and decided to sleep a bit more to give the tent more time to dry. Then it rained, only a bit but the tent was wetter. I waited till 8 and the sun was still hiding but it had completely stopped raining. A few weeks back I was cutting sausage and accidentally cut my towel. I bought a new one that seemed much nicer and had the chance to try it out today. It was awesome. The tent was practically dry after wiping it down. I put the tent away in the new waterproof stuff sacks, testing for the first time a new method of storing my tent. I don't need to wrap the tent body in a garbage bag and another garbage bag for the rain fly. Now I have two neon green stuff sacks. The picture is from one of our breaks. We stopped at the bridge and swam. I also took advantage of the sun to dry the tent.

It seems kids can get bored with the same conversion over and over again. Usually we talk about what the kids want for Christmas/birthday, or what to eat, or toys they want. Today and yesterday the conversion did not have much of that, instead it was new and creative. The kids wanted to know if I thought they were smart and told me about all the smart stuff they do or did in school. They also pretended to be on a secrete mission (to get Dad to let them swim) and came up with code names for each other. Another time they were ponies (Clover, Buck, and Lucky) living on a farm. Sydney rode her hiking pole like a pony and screamed a pony song as she ran down the trail.

We are tenting and I just heard thunder. I don't like putting the tent away wet, so if it rains I hope it stops by morning.

It was a great evening of hiking, breezy and sunny. Pete fell and hit his knee on a rock. He was slow and limping so I took his backpack to help lighten the load. After that he was hiking better, then moved to the front, then I saw him dancing and jumping on the rocks. I gave him his pack back and he had to hike with it for a few miles to camp. He is better now, and was so happy to get a band aid.