On June 26th, after Jack had walked 1000 miles, he caught a ride from Harper’s Ferry to Anderson, SC with Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth, Tyler’s Parents. Mom went to pick him up and they stopped in Gray Court for a night so Jack could see our grandparents. Saturday Mom dropped him off in Columbia where his truck was. He spent time with friends from college and began his binge eating that would last for the next two weeks. Wednesday he headed to Holly Hill and Thursday and Friday he did major yard work for my mom and grandma. We also went swimming at a friend’s pool and pulled Jack on his skateboard behind the golf cart. On the fourth a big group of us from Holly Hill went out to Morris Island which is right off the Charleston harbor. We stayed out on the island all day where we saw lots of friends. July 6th our dad’s side of the family moved into a beach house on Folly where we stayed the week. My mom’s brother and his family were staying at Wild Dunes so they came over for dinner and we went to see them on Isle of Palms for a day. My mom’s sister came down from Laurens on Thursday and stayed until Saturday. We also met up with a lot of friends throughout the week that lived downtown Charleston since we were so close. Jack did lots of surfing, eating, and catching up with family and friends. Saturday we left Folly and went home for the big Stephens- McClure wedding in St. George. This was especially fun because we saw most of our friends from high school, indulged in an open bar/ free food, and danced to a live band. Then Sunday morning we began the journey of dropping Jack off on the AT at the Delaware Gap in New Jersey, visiting family friends in Pennsylvania, and getting my dad to Cleveland, OH for his last appointment (which went VERY well!). My mom, dad, Jack, and I piled in my grandmother’s Impala where Jack and I sat in the back with a cooler and some other small bags! Both our knees were hitting the seats! We drove for about 11 hours and then we finally made it to PA where we stayed the night. Sunday morning we were just taking our sweet time while we waited for Jack to talk to the other guys. When Jack got off the phone with Randall we realized they were very close so we rushed out the hotel to go find them. We didn’t really know where we were headed and we were in a slight hurry because the boys were waiting for Jack on the side of the road. We were so worried about finding this spot that we forgot to fill up with gas so halfway up the mountain the gas light turned on! We all started to panic because we didn’t know where we were or where we were going and we were on a deadline. Luckily we turned down the right road and saw Randall, Tyler and James just standing there and waiting. Jack jumped out and unloaded his stuff. Our Hellos and Goodbyes were very quick because the car was steadily running out of gas. We left them there and went to the nearest outfitter where we got directions for a shortcut to some gas. On the way back out we passed the boys again. Jack was waiting on us to come back by so he could give us his camel pack which he decided he didn’t need anymore, so mom snapped a picture real quick. We left there and finally got gas, ate lunch, and we were on our way to Pennsylvania. Of Course I needed a bathroom break so we stopped at a rest area about 30 minutes from our destination. Wouldn’t you know that the car died and we had to have AAA come out and save us.
Jack is now hiking through New York and he and James will be catching a flight to Memphis for Blake McManus’ wedding on August 8th.
PS Jack also went through a slight transformation from the time he came off the trail to the time he got back on. The evidence is below!
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