My AT hiking son, Derek, has made his way into Virginia. Last Sunday when he called home he was in Pearisburg, outside of Blacksburg (where Virgina Tech is located) -- almost one third of his way to his destination. His biggest enemy so far has been the weather. As the weather warms and the humidity levels increase, I suspect the enemy will morph into insects-- especially the notorious black fly. Black flies, as I recall, are renown for taking enormous bites. They're sort of the vampires of the insect kingdom.
The local newspaper that Derek's been writing for, The Suffolk County News, called yesterday. It seems their owners (I think the paper has been bought out by some conglomerate) are trying to become more solvent and so they're downsizing. Translation: they can no longer afford to pay Derek his whopping $50.00 per article salary. Not like it was a huge amount of money but it did help keep him afloat while out hiking. The looming question is now whether or not he'll want to continue writing his articles. I think he will. He's established a local group of readers. I know the Boy Scouts read his articles aloud at their meetings (Derek is an Eagle Scout). Our friends and neighbors read them, too.
By the way the Suffolk County News may now (finally) be accessed online at the following address: http://www.suffolkcountynews.net. It is free (yay!) but you do have to register, for some weird reason. His latest article is under the news division. I think it's on page 8. Check it out!
