[pct-l] Being joined by friends

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I have some friends who have heard I'm doing the PCT and now they  
want to meet me places along the hike and hike with me.

My problem is that I have never done the PCT so I have no idea what a  
reasonable mileage for me will be as the hike progresses (this  
problem is also making it difficult to estimate my resupply stops).  
So it's not really possible for me to say "meet me here at such-and- 
such date". I could probably do that after I'm already on the move  
and have a better idea, but I still think that I won't be able to be  
absolutely precise in a way that allows people to tell their bosses  
exactly what days they need to take off.

My other problem is that I worry that once I'm up to high mileage  
days that I'll be forced to do 8 mile days to accommodate my friends.  
I suppose this isn't a huge problem since I don't intend to go all  
the way to Canada, but I'm not known for being good at slowing down.  
This could throw off my resupply schedule a bit, too.

Has anybody experienced this situation of friends coming along during  
the hike? Does it work ok?