Date: 2007-05-03
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Sam's Gap
Miles today: 2.4

May 3, Erwin, Round 1The birds were chirping loud this morning and woke me up at 7:15. It was already 57 degrees in my tent!It's so strange how much faster I accomplish everything when I'm going to town. Odd. But, the only hiccup I had when getting ready this morning was that I had to change the batteries in my SteriPen for the first time so far! I'm amazed they've lasted this long. We hit the trail at 8:50 a.m.An hour later we were in Sam's Gap. Barefoot had followed us from the shelter and he was hoping to hitch into Erwin with us. We stopped to make a sign to aid in the hitch and then hiked up to the road. We staked out a great spot near the truck inspection lane and set up shop. This would be my first official hitch and everything about it was hilarious. Umm..we found out later it's illegal to hitch on the interstate. Oops. We stood there for about 45 minutes when we saw some section hikers come down off of the mountain. Barefoot ran down to the parking lot to see if he could fetch us a ride and he did! We hauled it to the lot and hopped into a guy named Lou's truck. We had met him on the trail earlier with his friend, John. They were older gentleman who are section hiking the trail and have been for decades. They drove us to the Super 8 with BearKiller, Scout, and Barefoot. We got our town chores done in a jiffy - I was impressed! Lunch at McDonald's (I ate 16 McNuggets, fries, and a McFlurry, gross), laundry, and the post office all within a few hours! I came back and called Western Mountaineering because my drawstring in my sleeping bag hood is frayed and barely functional. I wasn't too impressed with their customer service so right now I am left with either a self-repaired cord or I can send them my bag and hope they can get it back to me fast. Oye.Then I repaired a tiny hole in my tent's mesh. My trip to the post office made my entire week! I got a fun and exciting box from my parents filled with Gushers, Snickers, ChapStick, summer sausage, granola bars, almonds, tuna, ibuprofen and Nutella! Delicious! I also got a package from Derek, my transcriber, with two delicious desserts - mocha mousse pie and dark chocolate cheescake (which I don't think will even make it another hour in the same room as me) - and a scratch-off lottery card! How fun is that!? Much to my dismay, none of my numbers matched any of the card's numbers so I lost. And, I got a thrilling postcard from a guy named Dave. On the postcard, he defined persistent for me and wrote a really encouraging note. It really, really motivated me and I'm blown away that a stranger would go out of his way like that. From Dictionary.com, the word persistent is defined as: 1. persisting especially in spite of opposition, obstacles, discouragement, etc., 2. lasting or enduring tenaciously, 3. constantly repeated; continued, 4. refusing to give up or let go, 5. stubbornly unyielding. How about that for motivating?! So, thank you, Dave, Derek, Mom and Dad. It really does make things better just to get small things like ChapStick, a dessert or a postcard. I definitely needed the excitement and motivation this week. Tank yoo.This evening, we ordered pizza with Pyro and DuckSoup and polished off two large pies between the four of us. We were asking them about their families and DuckSoup was cracking us up telling us about his routines. Six days a week he eats peanut butter Cap'n Crunch cereal for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and two peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. On the seventh day he and his wife have date night. They go to the movies or a play and then to dinner. He always orders pork chops. I asked him what happens if the restaurant doesn't have pork chops and he said, "we don't go there". What a riot. And Diet Coke, the man could swallow the can whole I think. I told him I definitely know people who drink more than him (hi, Shannon) but he could give them a run for the money. What a riot. We talked for a while and it was nice to have the company.I will now ice my foot as I enjoy some dark chocolate cheesecake...mmm.- Sound of the hotel fan, Certain on the phone, the TV.