Date: 2007-04-19
From: Springer

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Since Andrew has not had access to a computer, Mom will be keeping this updated in the meantime. Her entries are never as colorful as Andrew's, but serve to inform those who care of his whereabouts. They can read his stories later.The train trip down didn't allow the anticipated sleep, so Andrew started the trail Thursday with a deficit. He made pretty good time the first day, and appreciated the lightness of his 24 pound pack. (You may recall from his ADT journal "Sycamore Style" of 2006 that he originally started out with a 43 pound pack.) He's off to a promising start![[Straight from the Hiker's Mouth]]Hey, this is Andrew here (actually it's Artist, pronounced Ar-teest, but that is another story for another entry), finally found a computer at the Super 8 (actually, you have to closed-fist punch the space bar on this thing for it to work, so I'll probably just do a few entries before I get frustrated, throwing the monitor to the ground and swiftly getting kicked out) in Erwin. There's a lot to say, so I guess I'll start at the beginning.The trip officially started on the 18th when the family went out for chinese food. As you'll come to find out on this trip is that Chinese food is my one true love. I look for a buffet in every town I find. Surprisingly, I didn't eat as much food as I would have thought, but that has changed in a drastic fashion. I put down more food than I normally do, yet I get thinner every time I get a chance to look in a mirror.Then the train. It took about 10 hours total on the Crescent aka Midnight train to Georgia to get to Gainesville. As soon as I found a seat, a man whose name escapes me, sat down next to me. He was limping and was using a cane to get around, but was also only about 50. I could tell right away I was about to get my first story for the trip.He remarked that my hiking sticks looked perfect. Perfect weight and height. And how he wished he had one. Well, I asked him about his cane and he told me that one night when he was all alone at home, a crazy, homeless, drugged wild-man broke into his home and held him hostage at gun-point. He was freaked, but kept his cool. I mean, the guy had a gun to his head, what is he gonna do.Anyway, the train man decides to make a break for the phone. A bad idea. The crazed ruffian lowers the gun and shoots him in the knee cap.Wow, crazy huh? Well, there's more.The train man then claims that he, pumped full of adrenaline and anger, races to the kitchen, grabs the closest thing (in this case a rolling pin) and then chases the hobo out of the house and around the yard.Yeah, the guy was pretty cool.After that I managed to get maybe an hour or so of sleep before I was dumped, along with 4 other hikers at the Gainesville station. I only remember two, Scott and John. The other two hitched to the trail head. I guess, I haven't seen them again, well actually, I haven't seen anyone that I started with. I hope they are still on, they seemed like nice people.Anway, we three men got picked up by Josh from the local Hiker Hostel. He was a little late because he was at the local hospital the whole night filling in as a radiologist. But I used every second of that time to wring my hands and kick myself for attempting another trip. Why oh why must I try again and again and again. The reason? I still don't know. All I can seem to figure out is that it's like the bird in the tree that you can't see, but you can hear the pretty music anyway. (Apples In Stereo anyone?)About an hour later I arrive. There it is. The white whale. The mountain people dream about. It was an easy climb because I didn't do the 9 mile approach. Instead I started .9 ahead, in the parking lot and backtracked to the top. A great view, nothing spectacular, there's been better. But to finally be there, hiking, with a bunch of other people who were dumb enough to try, was reason enough to get going.And I did, about 15 miles of going. I wasn't too tough although Georgia is a whole lot of ups and downs. I actually got a free coke from an ATC train maintainer. He had a cooler full of cold drinks. Ooo boy.I was chaffing a bit. Well, a lot actually. I didn't move much at the shelter that night. Which is just as well, I was the only one there besides 4 section hikers from Florida that tented it down the hill. They gave me some free food too. Awesome. Thank you Florida Girls. Sorry I didn't use the trailname "Babyface".And then I slept kinda. Tossed a turned trying to get comfy, mice running around, but nonetheless I was happy. Content I guess. Maybe when you don't have a reason to do something, it doesn't give you a reason to stop.