Date: 2016-03-05
From: Winding Stair Gap between 

To: N ofTellico Gap
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: clear sky

We caught the earliest shuttle we could back to the Winding Stair Gap Trailhead. I like my town and rest stops don't get me wrong but my feet start getting itchy for the trail in short order so this morning when we got here it felt sort of like coming home.Sometimes as hikers we joke about being homeless when we are on the trail doing a long hike. Everything we own for that hike is on our back. We sleep on the ground. We are dirty and pretty unkempt. We don't really smell that well after several days on the trail. When we get to town we have a raging hunger and we stuff vast amounts of food in our faces like a skinny stray dog. I think the town people are unable to tell the difference between us and the real homeless people.   We talked to a hiker who went into a Subway all skinny and dirty and was wolfing down some food. As a fellow diner walked by him the man surreptitiously laid a $5.00 bill next to the hiker. He thought he was homeless!Yeah, we make jokes at our own expense and we think it's funny. But yesterday morning as I made my way to the gas station to scope it out, all clean and somewhat groomed, I came across a 'real' homeless woman. She had the requisite shopping cart. Everything she owned was in that cart. She had some plastic to cover her belongings against the rain and snow. And I have to tell you it pulled me up short. I don't know if she had to sleep out in that cold, wet, snowy night but you can bet she didn't have as good of 'camping ' equipment as I do. I was able to duck into a hotel take a shower and stay warm. I don't know if she did. Real homelessness is certainly no joke. And while our kidding around and poking fun at ourselves was by no means a slur on the very real problem and plight of the true homeless persons reality, it still was very sobering to think of her out in these winter conditions. Let's be clear here. I am in no no way making fun of the homeless community. Any reference to a 'joke' was pointed at myself as a wayfaring long distance hiker. In fact, just the opposite. Having been out in the harsh winter conditions, it made her plight all the more ghastly to me.When I am at home, I am involved in the Youth Group at my church. This summer they are going on a mission trip to California to minister to a huge homeless population there. I am so proud of them for being willing to think of others so much less fortunate than they are and to put these people's needs first. Very cool!Today started out very sunny. We were climbing from the gitgo but that is pretty usual coming out of a Gap. Our town stay was successful. We got a lot of chores done but we also had ample time to rest. We were on trail about 8:30am which is 2.5 hours later than usual. But of course we wanted to get as close to our projected daily mileage as possible. We decided to give it a go. As we were hiking along we suddenly bumped into a cool sign that said " Trail Magic Today" Are you kidding me? Hot darn, our first trail magic on the Appalachian Trail! How cool is that!? It turned out to be two people being magical. Even better. Trail Chef was the first to greet us and offer us all sorts of wonderful things to eat. Including some home made chili to warm us up. There were even some chairs to sit in and take a load off. A few hikers were the before us and we chatted with them in the hiker talk language. But all too soon Will was tapping me on the shoulder and telling me it was time to head on down the trail. A big thank you again to all of those trail angels that gave up their Saturday to bring some food and joy into our hiker day!And then it was back to the uphill. We hiked until we got to Tellico Gap where we have hunkered down. Again we have put everything on in the way of clothing. There were snow flakes in the air and it looks to be a very cold one tonight. Calling it a night. Catch you later! Road Runner