BACK ON THE TRAIL

Came back to Viginia to restart where I left off over a month ago. Had gotten sick with severe dehydration from vomiting and diarea. Went home on the bus19hr. Stayed with my son Rob and his wife Karen and there three beautiful children. A real pleasure. Also was home for the birth of Jacob Robert Plimmer, the first grandson. Spent quality time with all the children. Ate as much as possible to try and replace the 40 lbs lost earlier.  Now that I am here there are some other issues that have come up. One being the heat. It reached over 98 degrees here today while hiking. There were long distances between water holes which made hiking challenging. The other issues were bugs and snakes, as you can see in the pics. Almost stepped on the 5 foot long rattlesnake along the trail today. Almost everyone on the trail had a story about rattlesnakes. At one shelter a young girl stepped over one that her father killed. They cooked and ate it at the shelter.  After coming off the trail today around 1pm, hitched a ride back to Waynesboro to get the car and drive to Front Royal, 100 mi North. Went to a good AA mtg here and have to decide whether to stay here and hike the Shenandoah National Park or travel up to Maine and walk South. More will be revealed.