... Is that Roy?

"Waynesboro is a little bit close Mom.." I pleaded in vain.
"Waynesboro is right before Shenandoah, and you'll need to resupply there anyway." She answered back.
"But we'll be there before the package gets there."

Regardless of my pleas, she sent the package to Waynesboro, a mere four days journey north of Buena Vista, VA where we were, leaving Daniel and I to drag our heels for a day or two on our way to Waynesboro, or spend a lot of money in town waiting on the package to get there.

Naturally, Daniel and I had a hard time doing this, and decided that we would do only one extra-short day, and then could just go normal pace the rest of the way into Waynesboro.
This did not please Mom, as Daniel and I arrived in Waynesboro on Tuesday, and not Wednesday like she wanted.

Daniel and I resupplied, and ate in record time, and was just about to go about getting a ride to the Shenandoah entrance, and I call mom to let her know what our plans were.
But then she sounded rather concerned about the phone and tablet not having enough battery life to last all of Shenandoah, and told us not to rely on the Waysides having outlets for us to use, so she suggested that we go to the library and charge the devices, and post a blog.
So rather begrudgingly, we yielded to her rather commanding suggestion, and in the end it made it much easier to get back to the trail, as a one of the Kroger employees gave us a ride out of town.

However, we didn't have enough time to do the 7 miles to the first hut in Shenandoah, thus forcing us to camp just outside of the park, because you have to stay at or in one of the hut/campgrounds in Shenandoah

The following morning,  when I turned on the phone and called mom, she wanted to know where we were...
Exactly where we were...
"Okay, which cell tower are you at, the one with the tractor seats?"
"No... We're at the first cell tower...what tractor seat?"
"What mile are you at?"
"Around 820 something."
"When did you start this morning, have you had any road crossings, how many steps into Shenandoah have you taken, are you wearing clean underwear?"

There was no time to hike during this text conversation, and quite honestly, I almost turned the phone off just so we could get a move on.

The day went on like almost any other, it drizzled rain on us, it got sunny again, and as always it was humid.
And then...
"Why, Hello guys!"
I stopped, and looked up.
Before us, was a tall "gentleman" wearing a Texas flag shirt, and walking up to us with a smile the size of Texas.
My brain could not make any clear idea of how Roy could be standing in front of me.
"I must be dreaming..." Was my original thought, and then it became quite real, Roy was indeed standing in front of me.

"No way..." Was Daniel's first reaction.
I only wish I could have seen the looks on our faces when we saw him.

Then all the pieces started falling together, Roy is a pilot, Mom delayed us in town, our precise location was demanded of us, you think we would have caught on at some point.

We greeted him heartily, this was the first familiar face (apart from our friends on trail) that we had seen in two months.

Roy was kind enough to drive us to the first wayside in the Shenandoah's, two stinking, sweaty, and shocked hikers to eat...
You think he would know better.

The Blackberry milk shakes at the Shenandoah waysides was one of our goals on the trail, and they did not disappoint us. Along with the shakes, the burgers were also good- the pretzel bun was a nice touch.

But the best of friends must part, fair or foul the weather, and as we  had to finish our day of hiking, and we said our goodbyes.

About an hour after seeing Roy, we saw the first bear on trail as it ambled away.