Make it count: Day #78

Friday, May 29 - Day #78 - AT Hike

Miles Hiked Today - 0
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 1026.1/2,193 (46.79%)

Zero Day - Quality Inn (Harpers Ferry, West Virginia)

Total States Completed - 4/14

**Rain Day - serious thunderstorm in afternoon. Hot and muggy most of the day.

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It’s 9:25pm here on Friday night. I just had a great Happy Hour Zoom call with my Lifetime Fitness friends back in Colorado. I hadn’t seen them for a little while - so it was really awesome to catch up. I miss working out together - that motivation/inspiration o group can provide - it’s something that should never be taken for granted.

It’s been a pretty busy day. I’ve decided to wait until my next Zero to dig into my finances. I am going to provide a brief “State of the Union” below:

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A). Elevation

Total Overall Ascent Completed - 230,471/472,407 (48.79%)

Total Overall Descent Completed - 233,997/470,931 (49.69%)

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B). Camping vs Hotel

Camping - 53 days
Hotel - 25 days
— Day #1 - Amicalola Falls Lodge, GA
— Day #4 - Blood Mtn Cabin, Neels Gap, GA
— Day #10-11 - Budget Inn, Franklin, NC
— Day #22-23 - Mountain Inn, Erwin, TN
— Day #27 - Mountain Harbour B&B, Roan Mtn, TN
— Day #29 - Boots Off Hostal, TN
— Day #32-33 - Dancing Bear Inn, Damascus, VA
— Day #38 - Relax Inn, Atkins, VA
— Day #42 - Woodshole Hostal, VA
— Day #43-44 - Plaza Hotel, Pearisburg, VA
— Day #48 - Four Pines Hostal, VA
— Day #50 - Howard Johnson Inn, Daleville, VA
— Day #54 - Stanimals Hostal, Glasgow, VA
— Day #58-59 - Stanimals Hostal, Waynesboro, VA
— Day #60 - Best Western, Newport, TN
— Day #65 - Best Western, Newport, TN
— Day #66 - Quality Inn, Waynesboro, VA
— Day #73 - Baymont Inn, Front Royal, VA
— Day #77-78 - Quality Inn, Harpers Ferry, WV

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C). Total Zero Days

Zeroes - 8
— Day #11 - Franklin, NC
— Day #23 - Erwin, TN
— Day #33 - Damascus, VA
— Day #44 - Pearisburg, VA
— Day #59 - Waynesboro, VA
— Day #60 - Newport, TN
— Day #66 - Waynesboro, VA
— Day #78 - Harpers Ferry, WV

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D). Total Rain Days

42 total days with rain/snow. 42/78 (53.85%)

Days - 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33, 37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 77, 78

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F). State Theme Songs

— Georgia - Georgia on my Mind (Ray Charles)
— North Carolina - Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond)
— Tennessee - Rocky Top (Osbourne Brothers)
— Virginia - Get Along (Kenny Chesney)
— West Virginia - Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver)

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Really interesting to see some of these stats. I’ve gone 1,026.1 miles in 78 days. That’s averaging 13.16 miles/day. But really - I had 8 Zero Days and my first day on Trail was solely on the Approach Trail. So - 1,026.1 miles in 69 days. That’s averaging 14.87 miles/day - looking at days I gained positive mileage on the AT.

I’ve fallen a little behind my projected target at this point. I was hoping to be at 1105 miles by the end of tomorrow. I’ll likely be around 1045 - that’s 60 miles behind pace (roughly 4 days). I don’t feel too bad about this - my bypass of the Smokey’s cost me a couple days. I still think there’s a chance to make up some ground down the road. But - if I am able to complete this journey within a few days of my goal —- all good stuff!!

Alright - I need to get to bed. Today I took a couple hours to tour Harpers Ferry, I shipped back some cold weather clothes at the Post Office, and I bought new Hoka shoes. I’ve decided to try out the Speedgoat 4 Hokas over the next 105 miles. Let’s hope for good things!!

Stay strong, stay safe - we’ll talk to you from Maryland tomorrow. I’ll have a welcome tune to introduce us to the 6th state on my journey!