Atkins, VA, for lunch? I think yes.

I guess that would put me at around 950 miles along, whenever I get there. Guys, fall is the best season. The best.

I picked up my winter sleeping bag in Marion yesterday; better warm than sorry, I suppose. It is so fluffy, an old Big Agnes ultralight that I got off eBay for a pittance a few years ago, because I never wanted to be cold again. Here is the sun on this mountaintop:

So nice. I wrote you a story about bears last night, but I’m walking and it was in my notebook. Prepare yourself. THE LEAVES ARE CHANGING THE LEAVES ARE CHANGING. Hmm. What else… I showered! The last shelter had a shower! It was very cold! Now I am clean. I did laundry, too, but the clean scent of my shirt is overlaid by the awful stench of my sweat-soaked backpack straps, which I have not washed since NC. Alas. Things to aspire towards.

Okay, I will keep walking now. ONWARDS, FOR LUNCH! Random facts: Marion, VA was the birthplace of Mountain Dew. I am in mountains that condensate sweet carbonated liquid in the mornings. Very refreshing on my tent. Also, Nolan Ryan (?) played ball here at the beginning of his career, or so I have been told.

Ok. Also lies, Mountain Dew is not sweet and innocent. It was another name for moonshine. Don’t tell your kids.

Anyways,  keep on keeping on, my people. And thank you for the letters and the messages, even if I continue to be very bad at the internets.

Happy September!