Date: 2010-04-12
From: deep gap shelter

To: hiawassee ga
Miles today: 3.6
Weather: clear sky

got up pretty early in the morning to make it to hiawassee. was still tired and was really looking forward to some town food. 3.7 miles went by pretty quick and we were down at the road crossing pretty early in the morning. there was a guy there in a red truck asking people if they wanted rides into town for a fee. i think it was 5$ a head. we declined to wait for the hotel shuttle, which was free to people staying there. the truck driver then told us the hotel shuttle was down and would not be running today, which turned out to be an absolute lie. this guy seemed quite shady and anyone going through there should avoid him. there was a very nice couple doing trail magic there and i got a coke and a sausage buiscut from hardees while we waited on the shuttle. shuttle arrived after an hour or so and we headed into town. made a stop at the blueberry patch as some of us had maildrops going there. i had my mom mail me my warm jacket as it had gotten pretty cold at night and being cold sucks. i only got to speak to the owners there and they seemed very nice. in hindsite i wish i would have stayed there instead of the hotel but live and learn. we went on into town and got our rooms. first on the list was a shower followed by laundry and food. this list of priorities would change quickly. unfortunately the laundry mat was on the other side of town so it was quite a long walk. fortunately mcdonalds was on the other side of the street from the laundry so i was able to get some burgers while i was there. after that i went to the grocery store to get my supplies for the next few days. on my way there i ran into halfmoon driving a truck and he offered me a ride, but i was almost at the grocery store and declined. got my groceries and headed back to my room.this was when i decided to give my pack a nice shakedown. i dumped everything out and started going through it to lighten my load. there were several useless items i sent home, like umbrella and a big knife and several other items i cant remember. i then went in search of a replacement small knife at the hardware store and i picked up a visor at the clothing store. i also picked up a cheap pair of sunglasses at the gas station to replace the ones i left at arbys in ellijay. went back to the room and dropped everything off and several hikers were congregated around a fire pit outside the hotel and i went out to join them. spent the next several hours out there and we ordered pizza and got beer from the gas station. we had a great time talking about all sorts of things. also someone had a football that we all passed around. towards dark i retired to my room and had a nice long hot bath. it felt awesome. after i watched some tv and went to bed. after i had made it back to my room i really started feeling depressed again. probably worse than i had felt the entire time. sleep finally came though. it seemed that being in town or around civilization brought me down and made me want to go home. when i was out on the trail things seemed to be getting better. i was supposed to take a zero the next day but decided that night to head back out the next day.