Date: 2004-04-09
From: Raccoon Branch Shelter

To: Andy and Katie's House
Miles today: 13.0

Waking up is just not a very pleasant or joyful part of my day. It means you have to get out of your warm sleeping bag, brave the cold mountain air, and hike up a bunch of hills regardless of the weather. If it¢s sunny or rainy, they are sill mountains. It¢s starting to become second nature being out here. The weather is starting to feel like spring. I think we are finished with the snow, at least for a little while. Hiked with Sunshine today all the way to Partnership Shelter. This is the shelter that all talk about. It¢s a shelter that has a built in hot shower. It¢s about 200 yards away from the Mount Rogers HQ building which has a phone for ordering pizza! This shelter has it all. Did I stay there... no, I will soon explain. Once we got to the shelter no one was in sight. We expected Haiku, and Tell It Like It Is to be there for sure, and maybe Briar Rabbit. So we headed to the visitor center, and met Sunny Simon. He is a southbound hiker that is only doing parts of the AT in order to train for the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). This is a very rough trail that traverses some very difficult terrain including desert, and high mountain peaks. His meal plan consists entirely of sprouts, and natural nuts. I don¢t know how he does it, but it does sound interesting and worth looking into. For sure it would healthier than what I have been eating for the past few weeks. My body is starting to crave salads and healthy foods. So Sunshine and I are about ready to hitch down into town when here comes a taxi carrying Briar Rabbit, Tell It Like It Is, and Haiku. It was great to finally catch up to them again. They said it was an easy hitch down to town and that they caught the first car that went by. So we left our packs with the gang while we went to town. I tell you what; we should have taken that taxi back into town because we stood out there and watched 20 cars pass us by. Then we decided that since we did not have out packs on it looked like two hippies on the side of the road. We both have beards, and if I was driving by I would not have picked us up. So we went and got our packs and tried it again. Again, no luck. So this car is pulling out of the HQ parking lot headed in the other direction. They roll down their window and ask where we are going, and said they would give us a ride to town. At this point they are great trail angels, and we could ask nothing more of them, but it gets better. First off their names are Andy and Katie.   Katie is a minister for a Methodist church. Well actually for two I think. They took us to lunch paid for the meal. It gets better! Next they offered us to stay at their house till Sunday if we volunteered to help paint some rooms at a church. That was an offer I could not turn down. Sunshine on the other hand had a flight to catch and did not have the time to stay. These are the nicest people to allow a complete stranger stay in their house. This is not something they do on a regular basis. Actually I don¢t think they have ever taken in a hiker before, so that was even a bigger honor. They took us to the store to buy supplies, and then drove us both back up to HQ. I grabbed my stuff and we took the scenic route to their home. Andy is an avid fisherman and knows the local fishing spots and times like the back of his hand, if not better! It was amazing to drive through the mountains I had been hiking, and drive over the roads I had crossed. It¢s all from a different perspective while riding in a car. The mountains look so much more mysterious and frightening, no wonder people are afraid to thru hike the AT. We sat around and talked, helped unload two pickup loads of horse manure into their garden. It was neat to see how closely knit the community was. It is completely different than Dayton. Here everyone lends a hand, and helps where it is needed. I felt very comfortable, and I felt accepted. That¢s such a good feeling. I had only known these folks for a few hours. This is very difficult to explain over email, it¢s just great!   Had a nice hot shower, half a jug of OJ, half a jug of chocolate milk and a pint of ice cream. Right now I¢m all toasty in a nice bed listening to the birds.   It¢s 1:13 in the morning but these birds have been yelling at each other since I got in here at 12.   At first I thought it was one of those bird alarm clocks, but the sounds never stopped. It¢s all good. There is no doubt in my mind I will fall straight to sleep. Today is Sunshine¢s birthday so everyone back at the shelter is having a party, and eating pizzas! They sure don¢t have warm comfy beds like this one tonight. Pilgram Soul is staying in a hotel tonight watching some sports show on TV he could not miss, so he is sleeping well tonight. Speaking of sleep, it¢s off to bed with me! Til later.