We Made it to Tennessee

We are officially finished with Virginia- the longest state on the trail. Only 3 states left. The finish line is starting to seem like a reality but before we make it to the end, we have about 4 more weeks of memories to make. Here is what we've been up to since Daleville:
First off, we've had tons of trail magic. My sister, Amanda, picked us up(and Lucky and Charm too) at a road crossing and took us out to dinner where we, of course, over ate. We had a great time and Amanda kept us laughing, as usual. A week or so later, my older sister, Kara, and Mom met us near Wind Rock for an afternoon picnic lunch. It was so delicious! Charm ate so much that he could hardly walk. We were sluggish after eating all that delicious food but after a few miles we felt great. We were so energized from having real food that we ended up walking several miles past our intended destination. We walked in the dark for over an hour and it was a lot of fun. The most generous trail magic of all has been extended to us over this last week from Mom (aka Super Woman, Debbie Crocker, Trail Angel Deb) We've been staying at her house for a week now! 3 of those days we didn't walk at all, and on the other days she shuttled us to the trail so that we could get some miles done without having to carry huge packs loaded down with 35+ pounds of gear (this is called Slack Packing). We've had regular showers, clean sheets, and TONS of food. We're so grateful for the stay! Also, thanks to my Uncle Bob for picking us up after one of our slacks and to Rachel (trail name: Hot Wheels!!!) for giving us a ride and walking 17 miles with us! Needless to say, we've been well fed over this last section of trail and feel so lucky to have so many friends and family near by.
Besides trail magic, we've had many other amazing experiences lately. We met another Southbounder, Deep Dish who has been pretty entertaining. He's a bit ahead now (so is 2 Speed) but maybe we'll catch him again. Central and Southwest Virginia have been gorgeous! We've seen the leaves reach their peak and start to fall. The weather is steadily getting cooler. The trail has been so nice! We climb up to the top of a ridge and then follow it for a few miles before descending. Highlights of this section have included Dragon's Tooth- a huge rock protruding from the top of a ridge with great views, McAfee's Knob- a huge slab of rock stretching out from the side of the mountain that you can walk out onto, Tinker Cliffs- a whole ridge full of small cliffs and awesome views, and best of all, the Greyson Highlands- huge, open expanses of rolling highlands with grasses and interesting rock features and wild ponies.
Tomorrow we'll start hiking where we left off- about 10 miles into Tennessee. With the end of the trail looming in the not too distant future, we've been more aware of the beauty around us. In some ways we're ready to be done but in other respects, we wish we could live like this forever.