START TIME: 5:05 AM 
END TIME: 9:40 PM
I was worried that Jen would feel nauseous again this morning, but you can see from her miles that she felt just fine. No pregnancy test needed today!
She didn’t have another record “bear” day—she “only” saw 2—but the Pit Crew set our own sort of personal record. By my calculations, we managed to meet Jen at 14 different road crossings, 10 of them before noon. I mentioned in an earlier blog that the AT crosses Skyline Drive every 3 or 4 miles. Well, this morning it crossed it about every 2. So Jen didn’t have to carry anything. She just took pit-stops every hour or so. Most were short, but a few were longer.
In the mid-morning, Horton donned the mantle of Pit Crew Chief for a few hours so I could go into Waynesboro to shower, pick up a package, run by the bank, shop for groceries, and get lunch from Shukri’s BBQ.
When I got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Rockfish Gap, where Shenandoah National Park ends, I met Horton at the side trail to the Humpback Rocks Visitor Center and we hiked in to meet Jen and Dutch. After they ate some BBQ, they hiked another 8 miles to the Dripping Rock Parking Area.
Horton drove home to Lynchburg from there, and Dutch took about a 5-mile break before hiking the final 10.7-mile stretch with Jen from Reeds Gap to VA 56. They left about 6:40 so I wasn’t expecting to see them until after 10, but they cruised in at 9:37.
Dutch is leaving tomorrow. The past few days, Jen has worn his Ace ankle bandage, in part because of her shin splints but mostly because she thinks Dutch’s speed hiking powers will rub off on her that way. She says he’s a faster hiker than me. I find that hard to believe.