Saturday may 4

Jenkins shelter (575.3) to Helveys mill shelter (589.2) with a bypass to bland, VA dairy queen. Hitched a ride from the gravel road with a nice old man and his daughter? They dropped us off at the DQ (attached to a gas station). Zag and I each had a $5 lunch special: a cheeseburger, fries, drink, and we both opted to upgrade to a small blizzard. I added a rootbeer float and zag added a chili cheese dog. My blizzard had vanilla ice cream with peanut butter, chocolate brownie pieces, and bits of chocolate fudge. Yep, it was awful. The worst part of getting an easy hitch into town is not getting an easy hitch back out of town.  So here we are, full of DQ, standing on the side of the road at the intersection of I-77 and no one will give us a ride. Zag had even washed her hair with foaming soap in the gas station bathroom! She was hoping to stay at Big Walker's motel across the street from the DQ, so she wasn't enthusiastically helping me get a ride. As a matter of fact, I had to agree a would stay there if we didn't get a ride after 20 minutes. As the deadline approached, I became a little more pleading in my attempts. My usual strategy is to only proposition pick up trucks as we can jump in the back, not be a physical threat, and not dirty the interior. I began putting my thumbs up to compact cars with any number of people inside. Finally, accepting certain defeat, I said "let me try one more time, and if they don't stop, we'll stay" ....
He stopped! Seth T. gave us a ride not back to where we for picked up, but to where the trail actually went back into the woods...yep, we yellow blazed 1.5 miles, all for DQ! Totally worth it. We hiked the 1.7 miles to the shelter. Here tonight is paisley &  Mr giggle fits (a couple), and Gumby. K fox is tenting and the "video guys" are tenting. (they are creating  "the thru project " they have a website. Google and see what you get. I had a brief video chat with friends (service but no electricity..)
Tomorrow 18 miles to dismal falls. Terrain looks nice, weather is questionable.
Pics: me and a nice sign in the middle of the woods