I talked to Roy today. He was at Damascus, Va. He had expected to be there by Memorial Day but he was running a few days behind but it was not a big deal. He said he had hiked 18 miles today to get there. He talked about how he was now able to do 18 miles and not feel it much more than the 5 mile days when he first started on the trail. He is going to have to leave the trial in a week or so. Seems that he has work to do back here in Louisville. He is planning to knock out a few more miles in the next few days so that he can reach the 500 mile mark.
A little side note here. I'm sorry that I haven't keep the blog as up to date as I should have but I was out of town for a week, just about the time the updates came in. I took a train trip (AMTRAK train 7/27, the Empire Builder) from Chicago, across the northern states to Spokane, then down to Portland. It was pretty flat through N. Dakota and Montana until we reached the western part of Montana. If you ever ride through there on train, be on the south side of the train. Met some hikers on the train that were going to Glacier Park. They were planning 70 to 100 miles in the next 7 days. At Whitefish Mt. we met a young lady (probably 25'ish) that had been leading hikes at Glacier. Said she leads hikes from 1 night to a week.
We left Portland on Amtrak’s "Coast Starlight" and rode it to Emeryville (Oakland Ca. area.) Most of the trip was over 4000 feet in elevation. I could tell that there were some really nice views but we were up in the clouds that day and hard to see what was out there.
The last leg of our trip was on Amtrak's "California Zephyr". It goes through the Sierra Nevada's about 2 hours after departing Emeryville. Tour guides from the California Railway Museum boarded the train to announce points of interest and historic events. Be on the north or west side of the train if you travel this route. As night fell and the mountains fell behind us, we traversed Nevada. I woke just south of Salt Lake City the next morning. Just about the time the sun was able to touch the peaks of the mountains we approached Colorado. The next 500 miles were mostly within 100 yards of the Colorado River. Either side of the train will give you a great view but the north side is probably a little better. Let me just say it this way, "There are no bad seats through this region." After we reached Denver, things flattened out and dusk was only about an hour behind.
If you have the time, it's a great way to see this part of the country. We made the trip in 7 days, spending 1 day and night in Emeryville. As a veteran, it cost me $290 but regular fair would have been $343. We "backpacked" food and snacks for the trip, ate one meal in the diner and one in the observation car "snack area."