Date: 2004-06-05
From: Hog Camp Gap

To: Hog Camp Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

In the past I had heard of people zeroing on the trail and I wondered: Why would anyone do that? Some answers: Cool ¢99 thru-hikers, unlimited drinks, unlimited food, fun games, whiffle ball, it¢s still raining¢¦.at least these were my answers today. Myself, Bucket, and BooBoo all zeroed. In addition Franco, Benny, & Beartracks all rolled in early and never left. The vortex of trail magic had sucked us in¢¦which was fine with me. I awoke at 8:30, still alive despite the cold. I soon had consumed 2 egg bacon cheese fajitas and 2 cokes. (Yum). It was still raining as I talked with past thru-hikers and relaxed. By 10:30 I began to play cards with Kate and Shag. At first we played TONK, but by 11 a.m. the desire was to play scums & warlords (also known as A-hole). It is usually a drinking game, but all were cool with me drinking soda. The game allows rules to be made as you go and there are positions: President, VicePresident, scum, etc. I was the president for 7 consecutive rounds. Anyone hearing the game from afar would have heard animal sounds, myself addressed as ¢Sir President Sir¢, but would not have heard the word ¢drink¢¢¦I banned it. We all had a blast and played until past noon. Soon Booboo and I conferenced: We were officially taking a zero; that¢s 26. 57 days hiking to 26 zeroes¢¦never mind percentages¢¦let¢s talk about something else. Around 12:30 p.m. the sun came out and we (4 of us) played a game of ¢Lazy Whiffleball¢. This is whiffleball where no one runs¢¦you get ¢points¢ for how far it goes. I lost, but had a BLAST. As the afternoon went on I ate Italian Sausage, Hamburgers, and Coke¢¦& I made my own AWESOME chip dip for fritos: Hummus and salsa mixed. It sounds gross, but it rocked. My poor stomach :-) . Two more guests (of the host group) arrived, Big Daddy and Sarah & then it was time for ¢The Survivor Tape¢. One of the guys ¢Bop¢ wants to be on survivor so he was making an audition tape. It was hilarious! He chose to eat a tortilla of fried cicadas & salsa and then rap about his desire to be on the show. I beatboxed to white rap at its finest, with true white rhythm by the rapper (i.e no rhythm). None the less, it was hilarious and I hope he is selected. Myself, I also tried some cicadas¢¦yum. The hot fried bugs were good, but the ones seasoned with basil, white wine, & garlic rocked! All right, that is enough about bugs. *All right, it¢s 1 a.m. so I¢m speeding up*. After the video we played more whiffle ball until it began to rain. I ate more meat products :-) and then we all moved under the tarp to chill. We talked, sang ¢Sittin on the Dock of the Bay¢ and other songs, and relaxed. I somehow ended up performing ¢The Restaurant Cheer¢, an embarrassing dance / cheer I learned years ago. Sarah also did a cheer¢¦and we all just laughed. As the rain died down the fire was lit up for dinner: Fire-grilled salmon on a cedar plank and pork tenderloin ¢ WOW! Both were awesome, but the pork stole the show. As the evening died Big Daddy brought out a cigar he picked up in the Caribbean. It was a Montecristo Churchill (the first type of cigar I tried¢¦3 years ago).   We passed it around and since it was A) legal, and B) not inhaled into lungs, I happily partook. After more revelry I finally went to bed past midnight. These hosts are amazing and made our weekend with not only food, but with an awesome attitude and willingness to give back to the trail. I would take a free zero with them over a paid one in Waynesboro any day. Tomorrow I will hike out of here a blessed man.   BEATBOX   ttt