Today was different, and that’s the best thing to say. We got started a little late due to our late arrival last night and had a 2700 foot climb right off the bat. I felt good early on and quickly outpaced Stubbs and Whisper. I stopped only long enough to throw away some trash when we passed US 60 and then continued uphill. The climb was an interesting one that gave me a lot of time to think. For the first time out here I think our bodies are finally settling in to this routine. That certainly doesn’t mean we don’t still hurt, because we do everyday. It just means that I think we’ve convinced our bodies that this will be their job for the next 1400 miles. I read somewhere that in the first 6-8 weeks of a thruhike, your body goes through an enormous amount of changes. Your lung capacity expands. Your red blood cell count increases. Your capacity to remove lactic acid and other junk from your system gets stronger, and a myriad of other things. It’s almost like your system is a big machine, and the first two months are a time to get it finely tuned and running the way it was really intended to run. Early on when we came to a hill, we dreaded it, stopped often, and usually took a long break at the top. Now when we come to a long climb, it’s as if our bodies just kinda take over and make it happen. It really is a hard thing to explain but it feels like our physical side is doing what it was made to do. I could try to expound some more on the idea, but in the interest of time, I’ll keep it brief.

At any rate, we made it to the top of one of our longest climbs only to head back down several hundred feet, and then back up. That became the pattern for the entire day (Yes Allyson, things do get monotonous from time to time). First it was over Bald Knob and back down. Next it was back up Cold Mountain and down the other side. After that, the cycle repeated itself at least 5 or 6 more times. There weren’t very many good views today and the temps were in the 80’s and muggy with very little breeze. Throw on top of all that the fact that the bugs are out in full force and it wasn’t necessarily a day to remember. We did pass the 800 mile mark, but it was so hot and buggy that we barely had time to get a picture before we moved on. There was a span of about 5 miles where I averaged only about 12-15 paces between bugs attempting to fly in my eyes or my ears. Mel and Whisper had similar experiences. We also did an 8 mile stretch with no water, through the hottest part of the day. I will say, though, that the spring we finally found was one of the cleanest and coldest we have come across. Once we left there, we did the final 6 miles to Seeley-Woodworth Shelter and stopped for the day. Even though our bodies have abjusted to the big miles, they do still get worn down. In the past 5 days we have done almost 95 miles and we were glad to be done for the day and near a fire with smoke to keep the bugs away. We’re in our tent and listening to what sounds like a storm blowing in. Hope you have a great night and we’ll hopefully have a more exciting day to tell you about tomorrow.

Trail Journal for April 16, 2008 … first day out of Knoxville, our new friend Bad Idea, a great from Snowbird Mountain, and FAA tower, pumping some water at Dan Gap, and an awesome video from Max Patch.

Episode 23 on YouTube

Trail Journal for April 14, 2008 … snowing in the Smoky Mountains and Melissa gives us a recap of a view from a mountain!

Episode 22 on YouTube

I’m typing this while lying in our tent on the morning of the 30th. We did 20 miles yesterday and didn’t even start walking until 10. We didn’t arrive at our campsite until about 8 and we were both exhausted, so we just ate and went to bed. The weather was perfect yesterday and we got some great views from the top of a couple different mountains. There was aplace on top of Bluff Mountain that you could see far enough east and west to be out of th mountains. It was amazing! Our first climb of the day, after getting a ride back to the trail from Ken, was from under 800 feet of elevation to above 3300. It was one of our longest climbs of the hike thus far. We made the first 1700 feet up to a rock outcropping without a break and felt pretty good about ourselves. The final 800 though were nasty, steep, and very rocky. Once on top of Bluff, we were more than pleased to be done climbing. The next section, about 7 miles, was basically an up and down descent back to 1000 feet. Here, with feet screaming and legs about to fail, we stopped at a suspension bridge to take our boots off and rest a bit. It was already 6 p.m. and we still had 5 miles to go. We debated just pitching our tents and calling it a day, but we really wanted to make 20, so we put on some dry socks and kept trudging. The final 5 miles were amazing to look at. The first half took us along a reservoir with the sun setting over the water and the next part leading to the campsite was through an awesome hardwood and evergreen forest with trees reaching up to at least 80-100 feet. Many were to big around for even 2 people to reach around them. The final mile through this section ran along a beautiful mountain stream with large pools for swimming and greak cascades. Mel actually stopped just before our campsite and jumped into one of the pools. She was only in for about 10 seconds though, as the water is still very frigid! We camped next to the creek with Whisper, Blues, Boat, and SoJo there are a few others at the nearby shelter, but we seem to still be ahead of the main group, which we’re happy about. We love people but it’s nice to have a little break.

Before I end, I want to tell you about the crazy time we had at breakfast at the motel. We woke up a little after 7 and found the other 3 guys still in our suite. They had been planning to eat by 7, when the restaurant opened, but when they walked the 50 feet over there, the doors were still locked. Finally, at about 7:30, Blues knocked on the door and a lady opened it. He asked if they were open at 7 and she looked at him and said, “Well, it’s after 7 ain’t it.” Then she told them to come back at around 8. They came back to the room and as they were returning, they met Stumpknocker, and a guy named Warren Doyle. As you know, Stumpknocker is hiking the AT for the 6th time. Well, Warren Doyle makes him look like an amateur. He is currently about to finish the AT for the 15th time, the most by any person in history! It was quite a morning, sitting around the table and hearing them talk. Doyle has walked this trail for more miles than it would take to walk around the globe. If you add his trips across the US on a bike, Stumpknocker has also gone around the world. That was pretty amazing in itself, but then Boat let everyone know about the 15 or so marathons he has run and SoJo chimed in and let us know that he’s run 219 marathons, with at least 3 in every state and 4 on every continent. He’s also run in dozens of ultralong races between 50-100 miles apiece! Wow!!! I then thought of telling everyone about my fairly impressive pencil collection I had as a kid, but I didn’t want to come off as arrogant! So, I sat there with my mouth agape and marveled at the idea of actually hiking around the globe or running over 100 miles at a time. I mean, sometimes when I have to go to the bathroom really bad, I think about not even running for the toilet and just changing clothes when I’m done! I AM NOT A RUNNER, and he’s easily run completely around the world. What a cool group of people we are rubbing elbows with out here. It is also cool that we are keeping pace with them and able to call many of them our friends. This is one cool adventure! Have a great day!

I’ve decided to put the number of miles we hike each day in the subject of our entries. So, for you “Just the facts, Ma’am.” types of people, you can get it right away. Today was indeed 19.9 miles and it was a most enjoyable time. We woke up shortly after 7 and started getting things packed away. The rain that was called for during the night didn’t come until right about the time we started hiking this morning! It had also cooled down to about the mid 50’s so it was a chilly and wet start to the day. We made the first 5.4 miles without a break since it was raining, and went up and over our highest point for the day, Apple Orchard Mountain. It is around 4300 feet of elevation and there is a huge FAA radar station on top. However, it was completely obscured by a thick and wet fog when we went across, so we didn’t see it, or get to see any of the amazing views we had heard about. Mel and I had a wonderful time talking and I asked her what song she most often has in her head. She decided that more often than not she sings songs from old time musicals like Mary Poppins and such. We also talked about how best to share Jesus with a scientist. I sincerely enjoy the times that we get to just share with one another. I feel blessed to be married to someone that I not only tolerate, but look forward to being around! We stopped just past another crossing of the Blue Ridge Parkway at Apple Orchard Mountain Shelter for a pack off/boots off break. Whisper showed up shortly and we rested until we were so cold we couldn’t stand it. What a complete opposite in terms of weather between today and yesterday! We headed off in the steady rain and weren’t happy that the next shelter was 12.4 miles away. Our chill quickly wore off after we got walking again, and we got to have an awesome talk with Whisper about her Jewish faith and some of the similarities and differences between it and Christianity. I wish there was a way to record some of our conversations with others and play them back. This one was almost exactly like I had scripted it in my head a few weeks ago. God is certainly full of surprises! We invited her to keep talking with us and offered to give her our copy of the NT that we carry. I think I’ll keep carrying it, for the sake of the extra weight, and just let her use it whenever she wants. It is so amazing to know that God is up to something big! We walked another 4.5 miles and, just when we were thinking about lunch, it started to rain harder. Mel told us later that she had been praying for a place to stop that was out of the rain, and the next road crossing we came to had a forest service sign that was covered by a nice big shingled roof! It was so incredibly nice to sit on the ground under it, away from the rain, and eat our lunch. We rested and ate for 30 minutes and the rain finally subsided at around 1:30. It was still very foggy, and the trees were dripping a lot, but at least the steady downpour was over. We had about 7 miles until our destination for the day at Matt Creek Shelter. We had planned to stay there and hitch the 5.4 miles into Glasgow in the morning for a resupply on food. However, as we talked during lunch, Whisper said she would split a cheap room with us in town if we wanted to go all the way down to the highway. We liked the idea of dinner in town so we stopped on top of the next mountain to try and call in for reservations. The next part is a long story, but suffice it to say that after talking with 2 or 3 people who probably didn’t have a diploma among them, we finagled a room for 52 bucks. A shower and a warm place to stay for around 17 dollars a person ain’t too shabby. I also called and left a message for a guy from our guidebook who supposedly gives cheap shuttles to town for hikers. There was no answer and I didn’t even know if it was the right person (more on that later). We kept on trucking through one of the easiest and most gently sloping ridges we’ve hiked in the entire state. After a brief stop near a place called Devil’s Marble Field (aptly named for all of the crazy little ankle breaking rocks), we started down a descent of around 2000 feet. We stopped for water, found a salamander with no tail in our drinking area, and passed 4 of the most giggly and chatty girls we’ve ever met. They are out for a week and seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. They also seemed to thoroughly enjoy Blues and Boat, who were a few miles ahead of us and spent the night with said girls in a shelter that they laughingly referred to as a slumber party. Boat and Blues were more subdued in their description! We finally made it down the mountain, albeit with incredibly sore feet, and found ourselves walking along the bank of the James River. It is several hundred yards wide and didn’t really have any good places to cross. We kept following the trail though, and eventually came to a huge footbridge, formerly a railroad trestle, and made our way across the James. On the other side, two things stuck out. The first was the terrible odor of rotting fish and the second was a middle-aged man asking me if my name was Joe. Since that’s been my name for as long as I can remember, I answered affirmatively and he introduced himself as Ken, the man whom I had called earlier. He’d been there for over an hour and was happy to take us to town. We greatfully climbed into his teal green Lumina and enjoyed a quick ride into Glasgow. He showed us the Dollar General, the grocery store, the hotel and the restaurant, the latter two of which are the same thing. It’s not exactly a big town. We had him drop us at the hotelaurant and we were pleased to see the backpacks of our friends Blues, Boat, and SoJo out front. After paying Ken, only 5 bucks for all 3 of us (although we gave him 10), and arranging for him to get us in the morning, we headed inside for dinner. I had a 12 inch Philly Cheesesteak and a basket of fries big enough to choke a draft horse. Mel had a big cheeseburger and fries as well. We talked the other 3 guys into staying the night, and after some more confusion, worked it out so that we’re all 6 together in a suite. Don’t get too excited though, I’ve seen bigger rooms and nicer facilities in the bottom of sweat shops! Boat is on the floor, SoJo is on an old musty couch, and Blues is on a scary looking cot that I think they may have wheeled in from a nursing home! Whisper has a futon and Mel and I get the only actual bed in the place, a double. Oh the perks of being married! We resupplied at the Dollar General, each ate a quart of ice cream, and got a nice hot shower in a tub that doesn’t drain. It is presently 11:11 and way past hiker midnight so I think I’ll bring this thing in for a landing. Please keep praying for God’s hand to move out here and keep posting those comments. They are such an encouragement, and a piece of home for us. Good night.

I wanted to get a quick post out here to let you know that more photos and videos are coming soon! I have about 10 videos in the queue ready to be finished up and posted so many more videos coming in the next few days!

The sun is setting behind us at the Cornelius Creek Shelter. Dinner is finished and I am sitting at a picnic table typing, as the pungent odor of sweaty socks is wafting up at me from below. Wow, my feet really stink! Today was a good day by all accounts. We woke up tired but rested at a little after 7, ate a couple blueberry muffins, packed our smelly junk, pumped some water from the last spring for 9 miles, and headed north. Our first break wasn’t until about 6.4 miles in for the day, and it was much needed. We’ve discovered that 3-4 miles is about all we like to hike without a break. So, when we reached the shelter, off came the boots and out came the snacks. Whisper showed up shortly after, and so did Stumpknocker. By the way, Whisper went to the hospital and the doctor gave her an oral and a topical antibiotic, with the strict instructions to air out her feet any time that she stopped. She is feeling much better and has done the same miles as us for the last 2 days. Thanks so much for your prayers. Moving on. We also met a new fella at this shelter named SoJo. He started his thruhike on April 9th and has been doing 20+ miles almost everyday. He is a nice retired guy who presently has a home in GA, but is living about 10 feet from us in the shelter tonight! Once we left from our first break, we headed downhill to a road crossing and Jennings Creek. It is a lovely little creek with a spot in the middle just big enough for swimming. We didn’t go all the way in, but since the temps were in the 80’s again today, and the humidity was off the charts, we waded in and cooled off a bit. Incidentally, the pool we were in had a school of tadpoles that were easily 5-6 inches long and as big around as my thumb. Seriously, if they would have joined forces, they could have pulled us under, assuming they could have figured out how to overcome the lack of any arms and legs! We sadly pulled ourselves away from the creek after about an hour long break for lunch and pressed on toward our goal of 18.3 miles for the day. The next mile was about 1000 feet of climbing, just to go back down. It did, however, take us to the nicest shelter we’ve seen on the entire trail. It is called Bryant Ridge and is designed like a two story log home. It will accommodate 20, and was so nice we almost decided to be 3 of those 20. But alas, we were only at about 13.5 for the day and wanted to do what was next this evening rather than in the morning. What was next was the ugliest climb of the entire state thus far. We had stopped for lunch at an elevation of around 900 earlier in the day and we had to make it up above 3500 at the top of Floyd Mountain before it was all said and done. The entire uphill was steep and rocky, and most of all, humid. In all our days of athletics, neither one of us could remember ever sweating as badly as we did during that climb. I literally had an almost constant trickle coming off both elbows (Dave Rowlen, if you’re reading this, you would have been proud!). We also happened across our largest snake thus far coming up. I can only remember 1 snake in my life that I’ve seen in the wild that might have been bigger, and that was when I was 7 or 8 years old and helping my Dad cut hay in one of our fields. This guy was at least 7 feet long, and black as coal. We could tell that nothing else really messed with him because he turned toward us, curled up, and tried to back us down. So, I hit him with my hiking pole until he slithered across the trail and up a tree. Even then, when his head was as high as mine, his tail was still on the ground. Mel wanted to try and catch him, but we thought better of it! Once finished, Mel and I agreed that it was our hardest climb since Roan Mountain. Strangely enough though, neither of us were particularly worn out when we arrived at the shelter, and discussed with Whisper the idea of moving further. We finally opted to cook dinner and have a couple hours to relax before dark. We also wanted to stay in the shelter since the forecast is for strong thunderstorms overnight. All in all, it was a great day to be in the woods.

Now to answer a couple questions. Several have asked these in one form or another, but credit goes to Rick and his comment last night for bringing about this section.

How are we physically? We are better than we’ve been in quite some time. Aside from our feet hurting by the end of each day, neither one of us has any real concerns. There are some minor things though that I’ll mention. Mel has pretty constant hip pain and her knees get sore pretty quick these days. I’ve developed some strange red blotches along the sides and back of my calves and ankles, but I don’t really think it’s anything more than a bit of heat rash or something. My only other issue is some good ole inner thigh chaffing! Seems constantly sweating and rubbing ones legs together roughly 40000 times a day can have that affect! Oh well, some Gold Bond and a little walking bow-legged never hurt anyone!

How are we emotionally? Things are good on that front. Anytime you are with somone 24/7 for 6 months there will be moments when you get on each others nerves, but those times are few and far between. We miss our families a lot and can’t wait to get back home to see them. The same is true for our friends. 6 months is a long time to be away. That is why we like hearing from everyone on here so much. It makes us still feel connected.

How are we spiritually? We’ve both been able to see the hand of God working in some pretty cool ways out here and I think it has raised our awareness level for God moments! We’ve also had the chance to share as a couple with other people about our relationship with Christ and that has been great. The thing for me personally that I miss the most is having time to read and study. We have a New Testament with us but I am used to my whole library full of books and commentaries. I really do miss the chance to study and am looking forward to that. I also miss teaching and hope to get back into that in whatever way I can when I return. We both spend time while we are walking in prayer each day. It’s fun the have Jesus along on the hike with us. We’ve been reminded of Peter’s words to always have a reason for the hope that we have and it has been fun trying to figure out different angles to take with people from different backgrounds. In my own mind I’ve shared my faith with athiests, scientists, junkies, Jews, Buddhists, and a number of other faceless people. It’s exciting to try and be prepared for anything!

What do we talk about? Most of our conversations revolve around what hurts, when we’re stopping, and how hot/cold/humid/windy/steep/rocky things are at any given moment! We also spend a lot of time talking about things we miss back home and funny stories in our lives. Oh yeah, and we talk about our dog a lot! We’ve also had some pretty cool God talks.

What do we think about? I asked Mel and she said she thinks about people and things she misses back home the most. She also thinks about our future and what adventure God will send our way next. I think about sharing with others, as I mentioned earlier, and also a lot about things back home. We don’t really have a place of our own now and I haven’t done much as it relates to my new job at camp, so I think about what it will be like and how I can do the best job that I can. I know that sounds hopelessly idealistic and sugar coated, but I’m a bit of an idealist so it’s true. We also get random songs stuck in our heads that we sing over and over again. Mel is now asleep so I’m not sure what her most random one is, but I seem to keep getting “There Ain’t No Bugs On Me” from that stupid flea and tick commercial with the cute little lab puppy stuck in my brain!

Hope that brings you all up to speed. Feel free to ask anything like these questions and we’ll try to answer them to keep things fresh. Have a great night!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! We hope you had a great day with family and friends. Tonight we are in a shelter (Bobblet Shelter) 18.5 miles farther than where we started the day. It was a great day for a hike and I’ll give yu the details. We woke up this morning in the hotel around 8 and stumbled down the hill for breakfast. It’s amazing how much you can still hurt after not walking for almost 2 full days! After we had eaten our fill, we headed back to our room to pack up and finish off the two boxes of cereal we had purchased to snack on. I had Golden Grahams and Mel had Lucky Charms. It was during this 2nd breakfast that Shout informed us that he wasn’t going to be heading out with us but was going home from there. We were pretty bummed but exchanged our information, promised to stay in touch, and headed off so Whisper could say her goodbyes as well. She was pretty upset all day today. We threw on our backpacks, heavy with 4 days of food, and headed off for the AT. After a quick stop at the neighboring gas station for some muffins, and one last trip to a flush toilet, we stepped back on the trail @ 10:42. The bank sign also said that it was 72 degrees. We made fast work of the first few miles and were quickly under I-81, through some cow pastures, and up a 1200 foot climb to our first shelter of the day. Here we found some friendly day hikers, one of whom gave Melissa a pear and me an apple (Mel just found a tick crawling on her and I promptly chopped it in half, after we took it off of her skin of course!). That same lady took a trip to the privy and quickly returned, stating that it was much to gross for her to use! I chuckled to myself and headed off to do some business. While seated on the throne, I spied with my little eye something brown and about as big around as my fist, clinging to the wall above my head. While I know that is the perfect description for something else that could easily be found in a outhouse, it was in fact a huge spider, only a couple feet from my head. I quickly finished and headed back to inform the lady who had opted out of using that particular facility. She freaked and made some comment about how we would have all seen her in an awkward state of undress had she been the one to discover said spider. We  chuckled and they headed off. It was also at this shelter that we ran into another day hiker who told us about “the shelter woman.” Apparently there is a woman in this area who has spent the last 26 years living on the AT at different shelters. In the winter she will actually set up her tent inside the shelter and sort of take over like she’s the queen of her own little castle. She’s been arrested 3 or 4 times for this but finds it preferable to a house and paying bills so she keeps coming back. Sounds like the wagon is a few bricks shy to me! We were certain that had we stayed, the man would have kept talking until Jesus came back. So, we put the packs back on an kept heading north. The trail was well maintained and only moderately rocky today, which was good because the temps were in the high 80’s and very humid. We stopped by a nice stream for some water and a snack and took off our shoes to soak our feet for a bit. Whisper caught up to us here, and so did Stumpknocker, the guy we met a few weeks back who is on his 7th thruhike. We chatted for a bit and then I caught one of the biggest crawdads I’ve ever seen! He was probably close to 6 inches and was not at all pleased that I had interrupted his afternoon. I put him back, as it was getting late in the day and we still had about 10 miles to go. We climbed up to the next shelter and stopped for a quick late lunch break and discovered we had hiked a total of 725.3 miles. Multiply that by 3 and you get 2176. That’s right, we’re officially 1/3 of the way to Katahdin! We stopped shortly after we left the shelter to pump more water and then did the final 8 uneventful miles to our destination. We did see a few deer and cross the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time. We follow it for the next 230 miles or so and are never more than a few miles away from it until we get through Shenandoah. Once we reached the shelter, it was full of a group of 20 somethings who had decided to get on the AT in Daleville and see how far they can go. Honestly, we’re a bit surprised they’ve lived this long! While we were sitting around the fire with them we discovered that one was actually carrying a 5 lb bag of rice. No one had a stove so they spent over an hour trying to cook some of it over a rather dismal looking fire! The result was certainly not newsworthy! They are all very nice though so we hope they stick it out for a little while. They all opted to tent so we are in the shelter with Whisper and a weekended named Butch. He is a very nice guy and seems humored by the group that is tenting nearby! We will probably hike with Whisper until at least Harper’s Ferry. She is meeting her mom there and we’re not sure how long she’ll be off the trail. We are planning to make the next 275 miles in around 16 days so she can be there on June 12 to meet her mama. The forecast is for more hot weather and a chance of thunderstorms the next few days. That’s good for us though, as a little rain really cools you off in the nasty heat. Take care everyone, and Aaron, if you’re reading this, we miss you buddy, we really do.

Not much happening today in Daleville on our zero day. That’s exactly how we like it to be! We woke up this morning in time to make it down for breakfast in the main building of the motel, and joined Forecast, Brown Chicken, Blues, and Boat for a little continental action! While we were eating I got the chance to talk to boat a little more in depth than I had up to this point. He is from Franklin, TN and is an active member in a house church there. We had a great tike taking and he gave us his website to check out. If you’d like to drop by the site as well, the address is www.boatwright.us. Just tell him you got there from our site so he doesn’t think you’re some crazy stalker! After breakfast, we wnet back to our room for a nap and waited for Forecast and Brown Chicken to get packed up. As they were packing, several of our other friends arrived from the trail and Forecast and Brown Chicken decided to get another room and stay another day! That’s an interesting thing out here. It’s hard to get back in the woods if no one else is leaving.
Our afternoon was fairly uneventful, except for some more laying around, saying hi to new arrivals, and walking the 1/2 mile to Kroger for resupply. We got enough food for the next 4 days and also some stuff for the rest of our day here. Mel got a pint of chocolate ice cream and I got some Ben and Jerry’s. We ate both quarts, along with a random mix of other types of junkfood up until Whisper amd Shout returned from their slack pack and invited us to Pizza Hut. It is right across the street, so we headed there, waited way too long for our food, and enjoyed one of our last meals with Aaron before he leaves. I think we’ll both be sad to see him go. Next we came back to our room, watched a little TV, and are getting ready to head to Sleepytown. Our plan is for a decently long day tomorrow so we’d gunning for a fairly early start and hopefully the chance to put some distance between ourselves and the two dozen or so other hikers who came in today. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Peace and love. We’ll hope to give you a little something more exciting tomorrow!

Greetings from sunny Daleville. We’re staying at a Howard Johnson motel just south of the AT and are gonna go ahead and stay the night while we wait for Whisper and Shout to catch up from their slack pack today. We got up yesterday morning at around 6:30 and were hiking by just a few minutes after 7. We only had about 3 miles into town and they were mostly just coming down off of a ridge so it was pretty easy hiking. We did pass under several sets of powerlines where Tree had told us he had been shocked a couple days earlier. Not believing his story, I held my trekking poles above my head as high as I could and even touched them together, but no lightning bolts came. I’m still not sure if I would have been happy or not if anything would have actually happened! We were down off the mountain by 8:30 and paid the 10 dollars extra for early check-in. We split the room with Forecast and Brown Cow so it was a pretty cheap price for a long day at a nice motel. Once we were situated and showered, we walked the 1/2 mile north on 220 to the UPS and mailed home by winter sleeping bag, my long pants, and a really nice camp saw I found at the last shelter before town! The poor planning of some over burdened section hiker meant I ended up with a great Fiskars camp saw! All told, I dropped almost 4.5 lbs from my pack weight and was pretty pumped about that. Once done there, we dropped by the outfitter next door for the others to pick up a few things and then stopped by the coffee shop on the corner for Mel to get a mocha, Blues a black coffee, and me a Dr. Pepper float. We walked back past the motel and about another mile south on the highway, under I-81 and into the friendly neighborhood Cracker Barrel. We were joined by Whisper, Shout, and Blues. We ate more than would fit in this blog and were more than happy to sit and talk for a while once we couldn’t force any more pancakes down! We walked back to the hotel, took a nap, and waited until dinner! While we were relaxing, Shout came into our room with a platter from Kroger with two turkey legs. He could only get one down so, in the spirit of being a good friend, I made the sacrifice of eating the other one! That left me with a full belly and only a couple hours til dinner. Some days are tougher than others! Mel went to do our laundry and I chatted with her little sis, Kim, for a while on el phono. It was good to hear from her and when Mel got back, she talked with her other sister, Heather. While talking, she saw our friend, Inchi, from way back in the Smokies. Her new name is Gumby and we were happy to see her, as well as Sherlock, who came in later in the evening. We headed across the street for dinner at the Mexican joint at around 6:30 and were joined by Forecast, Brown Cow, Blues, Whisper, Shout, Boat, and Gumby. We had a great time at dinner and headed back to our room, where we celebrated Forecast’s birthday with some chocolate cake and milk. Once everyone else had gone back to their rooms, the 4 of us had another one of those God conversations and then fell asleep watching the Celtics put a hurt on the Pistons! It was a great day to relax and we are looking forward to today being more of the same. Happy Sunday everyone. God Bless.