I finally REALLY saw a bear!

Ok, so it was actually two bearcubs, but that counts as one real-size bear, right? They were running down a tree and then, thankfully, in the opposite direction from where I was standing. It was scary, not as scary as rattlesnakes though. I have not yet seen any of those in person, just other people's pictures.
So, in the past however long it's been since I last wrote, it has gotten exponentially hotter, and we have gone further north. The troupe I'm traveling with has lost a female(Trout), and picked up a male(Buckeye), which makes the ratio 3:1. This makes me sad, because for the most part, our conversations now consist of fart jokes and discussion of body parts. Buckeye is soon to leave us to wait for his ex-lady, Pax-a-lot.
We hit the trail after Pearisburg with high spirits and some other spirits too, yum. We hit some memorial Sunday trail magic, a sandwich never tasted so good. The next day, after crossing Dragon's Tooth and right before McAfee's Knob, we sadly bid farewell to Trout and her father drove her to the truckstop to shower before the trek home. We saw sunset on the Knob, then traveled on.
The next day, we went over Tinker's Cliffs, to Daleville, where we promptly went to the mexican restaurant and ate, then went swimming in the HoJo pool. It was glorious after 4 days of sweating and not showering. We also ran into Blaze, who is unabashedly rocking the male hiking skirt and says he now swears by it. That night, I played a killer game of P&A with Doxie, Meatbag, Buckeye, Hare, CC, and Smokin' Joe. It lasted til 1am, which is about 4-5 hours after our normal bedtime.
After eating pizza for lunch the next day, we headed on. The mountain out of Dale/Trout-ville was pretty killer, but not too bad.
Then came the so-far highlight of the trip: jumping off the James River foot bridge! Oh yea, we got it on video. Of course I screamed, but it was awesome! The trail angel Ken who drove us into Glasgow to resupply was cool, as was showing up at a shelter to find a guy cooking pancakes and eggs for us, but jumping off the bridge was better!
Then, a few days later, we got a ride into the Dutch Haus B&B for the free lunch they offer hikers! Whoa lotsa trail magic, I'm starting to like Va.(except for all the biting insects)
After filling up on that, we couldn't walk over The Priest, so we stayed @ the Priest Shelter and let ourselves digest.
The next day was hot and humid, which I think I may need to get used to to hike until New England. So instead of walking up over the three ridges, some of us decided to blue-blaze(gasp) to some falls to refresh. It was soo cold, but felt amazing.
After crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway for the 25th time, we ran into a couple that had just gotten married by a J.P. on the trail! They gave us cliff bars and water! Thanks again Seth and Catherine!
Oh, I also once again avoided getting struck by lightning in the two storms we had to walk through, but didn't avoid freaking out just a little when the lightning got a bit too close.
I learned some new terminology as well: apparently to 'yogi' something means to get food from non-thru-hikers without actually asking for it. You can do this by engaging them in conversation and/or looking pitiful very close to their large cookout while eating raw ramen or something like it. They then offer you food and you take it and eat it-interesting, isn't it?
P.S.-I have named my hiker funk and it has been agreed upon as being truthful by other hikers as being almost dead-on: I smell like moldy baby pool after a few days of sweating and not showering. Thank goodness there aren't any enclosed spaces in the wilderness!