Time: The 2 weeks prior to July 4th holiday

Plan: The plan is for myself and 2 hiking buddies to fly up to Boston and rent a minivan. Drive it to Franconia Notch and start hiking. 1 of the hiking buddies has zero desire to hike every mile, and when I pitched the idea of him being in charge of a support van for 2 weeks he went nuts with excitement. The other buddy would like to hike all the miles with me.

Cost: I spent $220 getting from Franconia Notch to Boston last year. Spending that BOTH ways this year would put me/ us at $440. The van rental will be $1k for 2 weeks. So between the airport shuttles, and slack pack shuttles, rides to and from the trail and the luxury of having a resupply van bouncing up the trail with us, it seems like both a fun twist to a trip, as well as accommodating for the friend that has no interest in living out of a backpack for 2 weeks. He can hike as he wants, when he gets tired, shuttle/ hitch back to the van, do day hikes, slack us around etc.
I am aware that thru the next several sections of the whites there is not motor access so the first 6 days or so there will not be a lot of use of the van. But we will be able to bounce it at the notches that have road access.
At this point in the completion of the AT....What does cost even mean....and this expense will be divided by 3, well employed young men on vacation.