Date: 2009-05-12
From: Erwin, TN

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Today was a very busy day for me and Scavenger. Last night, I spent the better part of two hours updating my blog and I ended up going to bed around 2:30 am, despite needing a good rest. I woke up around 9 am, headed to the sunrise breakfast and thoroughly enjoyed the endless bowls of cereal. After this, we headed back to the room where we intended to dry out most of our gear and get our dirty laundry ready for business. Then, we had to play around with our makeshift stoves (small cat cans) to ensure their efficiency. I received a maildrop from my aunt with all of my food and goodies for the next 6 days and I had to go through and consolidate everything. In the early morning, we headed off to do laundry, then to the post office, then to the library where I needed to buy a new camera because my old one had become completely broken and I was no longer able to even turn it on. It was a big bummer for me, as I love taking pictures. So, I ended up spending a good $250 on the Canon SD1200 model and had it two-day air delivered to Damascus, VA for Trail Days. I really hope that it shows up. After the library, we headed back to the Super 8 and began making some phone calls to inquire about how to actually get to trail days, how to return, and the potential to slack-pack in the morning. Fortunately, we managed to figure everything out before the Super 8 manager kicked us out because we were there way too long. Before we left, though, we headed outside and sat down on the bench watching the sun go over the mountainside and we ate the rest of the gallon of strawberries from the day before. It was sooo good to get some fresh fruits again. We walked with our heavy packs to the Huddle House, where Scavenger ate a breakfast meal and I ate a triple-decked cheeseburger. Both were relatively disgusting and we really felt like crap afterwards and later on in the evening. The place was run-down and dirty but, at the time, we really felt like it would be some great hiker food. I asked a few people for a hitch to Uncle Johnny's Hostel and managed to convince the waitress to call her fiancee to come pick us up and take us down four miles to the hostel. Her fiancee did arrive, but it was a little bit sketchy. It was a broken down Grand-Am and the window was completely smashed. As soon as we got onto the highway, he took over and started flying down the highway. Scav and I were not buckled up as we had our packs and food in the back with us (mind you there is tons of other crap in the backseat, along with a baby seat), so we were a little weirded out...but I'm not going to complain. It managed to get us from Point A to Point B in relative safety. Since it was already 9 o'clock and we didn't want to have to pay to stay at the hostel, we decided to camp across the bridge on the other side of the river. We couldn't see too well, so we actually just set up our sleeping pads and bags by the side of the road. When a car would go by, we would have to duck out of the way to ensure that no one would see us as we were pretty sure that we were camping illegally. It was magnificent to sleep underneath the stars without a tent, but the air was cool and damp. A huge train rolled close by us several times during the evening, waking us up at various times. Tomorrow, we'll be slack-packing from Iron Mountain Gap back to Erwin, TN in order to catch a lift up to Damascus, VA for Trail Days. We are looking forward to it!