Dear Mom, and other Virginia coincidences.

Dear Mom, apparently yes, if my friends jump off a bridge, then I will too. Who knew? After rolling halfway through the last stretch of high mountains in the south, I got to the James river "Foot foot bridge." The great group of folks with whom I have walked of late, Spoonz, Hook, Dancing Wind, Fluffy and Stickshift, proceeded to wait patiently, though tired, hot and ready to go to town while I spent an hour calculating my odds of dying stupidly and on HD video. We conducted experiments, polled local experts, then I figured out how to get through the railing onto the ledge, and I was in the James. Hook, the chief experimenter, was up and in immediately after.

We then got a ride to Glasgow and had a great dinner, homemade ice cream sandwiches, and stumbled into a carnival with live bluegrass. When they finished their set, they came over and played a set just for us. Stickshift sat in on bass, and Fluffy did a tune on the fiddle. We had a great night before rolling over the brutal final stretch, which included over 10000 feet of climbing. DW and I got caught on a bald in a crazy thunderstorm. But we all safely made it to Waynesboro,despite the complete disintegration of my shoes and the wounding of my hiking poles. Apparently two things must fail catastrophically each time I'm headed into a town with an outfitter.
Got a chance to see another movie, which is a huge treat. I will be moving into Shenandoah National Park soon. I'm attempting it with minimal food. I'm counting on the fresh berry milkshakes to make up the deficit.