START TIME: 5:05 AM 
END TIME: 9:50 PM
Jen had another near-50-mile day. She got a full 7 hours of sleep last night before hitting the trail at the usual time. The first road crossing was VA 728 but it was a little tougher to find than we thought. That’s because it was still dark when we got out there and because the road didn’t actually cross the trail; it crossed OVER the trail. On an old train bridge. Rambler and I knew we were close, and we knew the trail would eventually meet the road we were walking in on, but we weren’t sure how far we’d have to walk. Once the railroad grade got low enough for us to notice it, Rambler pointed out that the trail was probably up there. About 50 yards later, I spotted a white blaze on a tree above us so we scrambled up the steep embankment and hiked back toward the bridge. Jen made me promise not to climb back down the embankment again. I didn’t want to go back down because of my knee and because of erosion, but I let her feel like she’d won a big victory anyway.
Things were less eventful the rest of the day. Rambler hiked a few miles in with Jen from VA 728 and then we both met her at Straight Branch on US 58. From there she hiked 5.6 miles into Damascus, one of the best towns on the trail.
I spent several hours in Damascus sending e-mails, making phone calls, shopping for groceries, pizza, and flashlights, doing laundry, talking with Warren—who had come over from his home in Mountain City—and meeting up with Maureen, a friend of Jen’s family from way back.
Rambler got a head start up the trail from Damascus and carried Jen’s water and snacks for the first part of the 15-mile stretch. Once he came back down, he, Maureen, and I drove around to Low Gap on US 421 near Shady Valley. Jen came through a little before 4 and ate some of the snacks Maureen brought from Lake Summit: watermelon, cantaloupe, and hard-boiled eggs from her chickens.
Once the three of us got to Tenn. 91, Maureen helped me clean out my trunk. I resisted but she said it was unhealthy to serve Jen food from such a filthy car. And I never meant for the Manny Ramirez approach to apply to the inside, just the outside. So I didn’t put up a fight, especially when she yelled at me, “Let me be helpful!”
While we were cleaning out the trunk, a storm hit and dumped rain on us for 20 or 30 minutes. I was sure Jen would get soaked by it, but when she came strolling in, she didn’t have a single drop on her.
From there, she had an 11.5-mile stretch to Vandeventer Shelter. Rambler, Maureen, and I drove around to Wilbur Dam Road, where Rambler hiked 4.7 miles in with Jen’s tent, sleeping bag, pad, and dinner.
After he left, Maureen drove into Elizabethton to get a hotel room, I put up my tent, and within about 15 minutes, it was pouring again. At about 9:45, I got a text from Jen saying she’d made it safely. I called thinking we both might have reception, and we did so we were able to talk for a few minutes. It turned out she avoided the second storm, too, but she was sleeping close enough to the shelter that she could hear someone snoring loudly. We’re not sure, but there’s a decent chance it was Rambler.
RETROACTIVE ANIMAL SIGHTING: I forgot to mention that Jen crossed paths with a big, mean rattlesnake several days ago. He was camped out in the trail at a forest road crossing. She kept her distance and whacked her sticks to try to get him to move. She even started throwing stuff around him (not at him), but he didn’t budge. He just coiled up and started rattling. After a few minutes, she decided to give him a wide berth and walked around him in the woods.