Date: 2017-03-17
From: Sassafrass Gap

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 6.0

From Fatboy:Happy St. Patrick's Day!   We made a rookie mistake and brought a water bladder into the tent with us. It leaked about a liter during the night and I thought I was just cold from the ground. I was sleeping (not really much) in a puddle of ice cold water. Ginger had all of her clothes on and my down jacket over it all. We were pretty miserable and dumped a puddle of muddy water out of our tent before we packed up to go. Neither of us was very cheery or talkative.From Ginger:It was so confusing and crushing to be that cold after a couple of warmer nights on the trail. We'd bought bag liners, and I added a base layer for sleeping. Plus I had Nathan's down jacket on top of my own coat. What in the world was wrong?! Temps were even a few degrees higher than they had been! It was my first nearly defeating experience. My body is fine -- no blisters or pain, and no soreness yet that rivals what I get from a Pinnacle workout. (And I truly thank the Pinnacle team at home, Mom and Dad's genes, and God every day for that. I wish I could lend a pain-free foot and knee to Nathan, even if for a few hours!) What gave me comfort that night was something my father-in-law -- my Ohio dad -- assured us when we left them. I'm paraphrasing in quote form, but only a bit. His voice in my head that night was, "Honey, you just let me know if you need to be picked up. I'll be there. Wherever it is." I fell asleep alternately praying and imagining I had one of those radios from the TV show "Alone," and I called and said, "I'm done." Then wrestled with regretting giving in to the cold.I didn't talk about it with Nathan until the fear and urgency had passed. I was worried we'd comfort each other into bailing. I don't think I'll doubt that again. I know better: We're stronger together. He knows not to quit on a single bad day, and reminded me of that when I was ready to be vulnerable about the rough night. As I type this after those difficult hours that felt like multiple days, I'm so glad we didn't stop. It was only 6 miles to town, and eventually -- after an indulgent two cups of coffee each (Nathan is so good to me), we were able to laugh at the circumstances that set the night in motion. We survived. Score another for Team Porter.Back to Fatboy:Our goal for the day was Dick's Creek Gap. It was cold and windy and muddy with lots of ups and downs. Ginger was able to make a phone call from a peak to arrange a shuttle and reserve the last room at the Budget Inn in Hiawassee. We hustled to meet our ride after I estimated a meet time of 1600-1630. The shuttle driver, Bob, was prior Navy and he and I talked the whole ride about our experiences in the Philippines. We picked up another hiker at Unicoi Gap who was hiking with a blonde labradoodle named Yankee. He was a beautiful but very tired pup. We checked in to the Budget Inn and placed all of our wet stuff out to dry in our room. We then walked what seemed like a mile to an AYCE at Daniel's Steak House. The food was wonderful and I even got a senior discount! That's the first benefit to being 60 I've found on this hike yet. We got KT Tape and compression stockings at the pharmacy and Ginger is going to tape my foot up following directions we found on a YouTube video. Back to the room to get ourselves and our clothes clean. We opened our mail we received from Michael S. In Corpus Christi. He and his wife sent us our food AND included a mini bar of good soap, a card, some money to buy dinner, some candy, and laminated cards with the serenity prayer on them. Ginger and I both shared tears of gratitude for the kindness of our friend. We were tired after a full day and grateful for a warm, dry place to sleep.Final word from Ginger on this 24 hours:As Sister B would say, we are blessed beyond measure.