Date: 2005-04-19
From: Gatlinburg

To: Zero Day Update
Miles today: 0.0

Hey,Here are a few days to wet your whistles, and get you the inside scoop of whats happened lately, I still have a lot of days to fill you all in on in the next day while I have a pc, but here is a few entries;Friday April 8:I woke up to bad weather at my last morning at the Blueberry patch hostel and I was excited to get another fantastic home cooked breakfast. I rained off and on all day while I was hiking and me and the other hikers leaving the b-berry patch all ended up pretty much hiking together all day and we all ended up at the same crowded shelter, that was full, but instead of setting up my tent in the t-storm, I slept on the picnic table bench in the shelter, which was actually not bad at all and I got a good nights rest, and I woke up in the middle of the night to find a beautifully starry clear night after the rain blew out. I crossed the GA/NC state line and the hike got HARD right into NC, but I was happy to be there, and it was pretty easy for me even though it was straight uphill, because it is so much easier on my feet. While I was hiking I got tired or grumpy or a bad attitude and I started thinking pretty nasty and rude things, and then I got to the shelter, and I ended up enjoying the company of my shelter mates and I was again taught a lesson about judging others, which is good for me. I realized that my journey to maine has a good chance of a successful completion b/c I have no where else to go anyways, and nothing is going to make me happy, except me, and so I will just make myself happy on the trail, I don¢t have the time to explain what I really mean here, all I can say is, is that it is a very good thing, just hard to explain.Saturday April 9:What an incredible day with great a mental attitude all day long! I was elated all day long at my journey and what I have learned thus far in such a short period of time. I have never dreamed that this many lessons can come to fruition in such a short period of time.The views were incredible today after a rather bland day yesterday. I hiked ridgeline and it was insanely beautiful. I made a HUGE hiking day today and did a 20 mile day which is a huge accomplishment on such a hard day of hiking in terms of the vertical climbs today. It was a great day. There was also well needed trail magic by this dude in a camper cooking up black beans and rice for us thru-hikers. I hadn¢t planned on doing so many miles, but I saw ¢Saxy¢ at betty creek and decided to push for the trail magic up ahead. What an amazing day! Tomorrow is franlin, nc and a well needed hotel room.Sunday April 10:I woke up after a very enjoyable night at the albert mountain fire tower and chilling by the fire with ray and saxy and Kelly and I was off to franklin for a well awaited hotel stay. I hiked with a guy named brad for a while who has a huge beard from Bloomington and he is all about nutrition so we had grand time making fun of the nutritional state of our country and its terrible habits. There was more trail magic at the road where I was getting off at the hitch into franklin and at the picnic table with all the free food was a dude that I went to high school with! That goes to show what a small world it is that three guys from the same high school are hiking the same trail that only a few people hike each year. It must be something that St. X puts in the water or something. The hotel in franklin was a dump and my room was the cheapest one they had and it didn¢t even have a phone. The owner was VERY NICE, and he was really hiker friendly, but the hotel was so crappy, and the TV was like 13¢ and barely color at all, so I watched chick flick Sunday and ended up getting my fill of chick flicks like, You¢ve got mail, and Devine secrets of the YAYA sisterhood and What women Want¢¦ I stuffed my face at the all you can eat steak buffest and then I got an extremely large six scoop ice cream Sunday that was ridiculously large at a great ice cream shoppe in franklin. It was marvelous. I learned today that I am ALWAYS asking to see hotel rooms before I check into them from now on if they are cheap-and I¢ll do it to, I¢m not joking. TV was good, and I actually like chick flicks, as most of you know, so it was welcome that TNT was showing chick flicks.OKLater on tonight I'll write about what happened in between april 10 and today.Take it easy Everyone!