Date: 2003-04-08
From: Franklin, N.C.

To: Errands and Dr's office.
Miles today: 0.0

Part One: Hi all! this is an actual live journal entry. After some fantastic trail magic,which I will write about later,we (the fab fearless four are in Franklin,Nc for a zero day.It is by medical necessity more than tiredness though.We all want to be on the trail,but yesterday while slack packing of all thngs,Mudbutt stepped wrong and may have refractured her stress fracture.She is in the doctors as I write.This has been so incredible.We may losee half of our foursome tomorrow as Silver Lining has a hot date with her Hubby at NOC,and Hiker Biker Babe does not do zero days well.I have a meeting with a Rotary Club tomorrow at noon here in Frankin,hope to pick up some more sponsors.Will update on our situation here tonight.Thanks to all who email us and encourage us north.Please pray an extra prayer for Mudbutt.I am quiclky picking up the new trail name of BTG which is Bible Toten Granny.I do a devotional every day,and seemed to have a direct link with god on some of the weather.HAHAHA !I tell them it just seems like God is saying yes allot to my prayers right now!!!I am grateful for that.It is all about him!!bumpkinPart Two:We started the day off with an al you can eat breakfast buffet.We made Mudbutt go back to the room and put her foot up and ice it down.It was Still pretty swollen.The three of us loaded up our dirty laundry and headed down the highway, plastic bags of dirty clothes slung over our shoulders.We had not gone very far before a little pick up truck pulled over and offered us a ride to the laundry.We gratefully accepted.While I did laundry,Silver Lining and Hiker Biker Babe went to the grocery store to resupply for themselves and Mudbutt.It is amazing to me how artificial the stores seem after a few days away from civilization.I find myself almost in a frenzey trying to figure out why I would need to buy all the items on the shelves in front of me.In fact the only choice I really have had to make other than what to fix out of my slim pickens food bag,was to decide what kind of detergent to wash my clothes in!We did not have any luck getting a ride back to the motel,and we were loaded down with clean clothes and groceries.But hey,we had over 100 miles under our belt or shoould I say on our feet.Back at the motel,we found Mudbutt in a world of hurt with her foot.We decided to get some lunch,then call a cab and take her to a medical office and the est of usto the post office and the library.We walked across the street to Pizza Hut and had pizza and salad.Our waitress offered to cal us a cab.She came back with bad news and good news.The bad news was there was no cab available for us.We would find out later that the cab service only ran if the guy was sober and hungry.The good news was that her manager had let her off work long enough to take us where we needed to go.We piled into her car,and dropped Mudbutt off at the doctors,then picked up our food drops from the post office and went to the library to check our emails and read the trail journals of the hikers ahead of us on the trail.We did not have any luck being picked up back to the motel,even though we stuck our thumb out.We walked into our motel room took one look at Mudbutt's face,and knew the news was not good.Her foot was broken in two places.The verdict,4 weeks off of it.We were all dumbfounded.It just did not seem possible that we would have to go on without our beloved Mudbutt.There were plenty of tears shed that night.The only bright spot in the evening was that when we checked into the motel,who should we run into in the lobby,but Papa Bob.He had lost a crown and was scheduled for a root canal the next morning.He asked me to have dinner with him and we had a great time.He was so very interesting to listen to ,as he told me about his hiking escapaeds with his young sons years ago.We all went to sleep with heavy hearts.Years of planning and dreaming came to an abrupt halt.Life is just not fair sometimes and this was one of those times.