Date: 2006-09-14
From: franklin, nc

To: somewhere near licklog gap
Miles today: 13.5

======2003====== tuesday, march 4, day 11is this ¢national coincidence day¢ or somethin¢? you won¢t believe how everything worked out yesterday evening and this morning!.....we waited till 3:00 at the road (where we met shrunk) just as we had planned¢¦..no mom and dad, however¢¦..so we finally decided to just try and hitch our first ride into franklin¢¦..i was so nervous!....had never done this before¢¦..so we took a minute to pray and then , with a bit of trepidation, walked over to the side of the highway, smiled, tried to look respectable, stuck out MY thumb*...... and presto!..the 2nd truck picked us up!...(i had left 2 notes at the trailhead in case mom and dad did finally show up¢¦..i tried not to worry thinking i had just confused our plans somehow)¢¦.anyway this guy pulls over in his pickup and we find out he¢s a minister in the area¢¦very nice¢¦.(he also sold RVs and enjoyed hiking himself)¢¦we had a very pleasant conversation with him en route to town and he even cared enough that as he was dropping us off he asked if we knew the Lord!...we assured him we did and had just experienced His hand in this, our first hitch into town!.......we were dropped off at the outfitters and then walked over to get our laundry done as quickly as possible (i was anxious to call home and see if i could catch mom and dad)¢¦we met whistler at the laundromat (whom we had not seen again since the beginning of our hike¢¦.his knees were in bad shape¢¦.i think he was thinkin¢ of goin¢ off the trail )we finally got ourselves settled into the hotel (woo hoo! a shower and a bed!) and needed to decide what to do about catchin¢ up to mom and dad¢¦..where were they?.....could they still possibly be at home?...we decided to call and if they were still there (because I confused the timing in our last phone conversation), then we would tell them not to come and we¢d pray for a hitch OUT of town¢¦¢¦we called, but there was no answer¢¦¢¦so we called carli to see if she knew where they might be¢¦..good news and bad news¢¦the bad news was what we expected¢¦we DID confuse the dates and they were planning on picking us up at 1:00 TOMORROW (and takin¢ us into franklin)¢¦.unfortunately they had already left and were planning to find a place in franklin somewhere to spend the night ¢¦.but that ended up bein¢ the good news (sort of)¢¦.now all we had to do was FIND them!...franklin is a little town¢¦.how hard could it be?so we prayed once more and got on the phone and called every hotel and BandB in town, but to no avail¢¦..mom and dad had disappeared off the face of the planet!...now I really started to get worried¢¦.had they had an accident?(a little more prayer)¢¦had their car broken down? (still more prayer)¢¦..what were we gonna do?we had planned on spending the evening with them and getting back on the trail the next morning (TODAY) early¢¦about 9AM¢¦..we were still new to this long distance hiking thing and were concerned about straying from our schedule too much¢¦.still nothin¢ seemed as important to me at that time than to find out what had happened to my mom and dad!....we figured that if we didn¢t find them, we¢d just hafta hitch a ride back out to the trail head and be waiting for them there TODAY as if everything were normal ¢¦and then we¢d make up our lost time somehow¢¦..whoa! what a major SNAFU!well¢¦.we finally decided that all we could do for the moment was just go get something to eat at one of the many restaurants surrounding the hotel¢¦..we¢d try phone calls again when we got back¢¦¢¦so, naturally, we picked shoney¢s as they had an AYCE¢¦... and even though nerves threatened to undo my system, my hiker stomach was screaming,¢FOOD!¢ at this hour of the day¢¦so we mully grubbed over to the restaurant¢¦¢¦ it was very crowded as we walked in and we were afraid the food bar would be picked over (by the looks of the ¢sea¢ of hungry diners¢¦.was monday night somethin¢ special?...there were an awfully lot of people!)we followed the hostess back to the center of the restaurant and she showed us a table near the bar¢¦.we sat down and i tried to choke back tears so as not to cause a scene¢¦.we had planned for this to be such a fun night¢¦such a happy reunion¢¦what had happened?.....just then, from the other side of the partition, someone said, ¢deb?¢i looked up and you¢ll never believe who i saw (or maybe you¢ve guessed by now)¢¦..it was my mom and dad!...i jumped up and practically ran around to their table (which amazingly was right next to ours)!....there were big hugs all around! (and lots of explanations!)could that ever have happened in a million years?!!....i believe it absolutely could NOT have!.....but our Lord is the Master of arranging neat ¢coincidences¢!...and so everything worked out according to our original plans!i was still worried a little, however about mom... she had hurt her shoulder in a fall (and she struggles with high blood pressure)¢¦but after what had just happened i knew i just needed to put her in God¢s hands ¢¦..she assured us that she was doing fine¢¦..well¢¦.back to this mornin¢¢¦..we said goodbye (a little reluctantly) to my parents and then we were on our way up the trail toward wayah bald as planned¢¦¢¦there was a pretty good view up there, but quite a bit of vandalism and graffitti at the tower¢¦..we were so tired coming into camp¢¦.what was left of the hazy afternoon swept just over the top of this huge, rounded mountain rising up here before us like an old friend¢¦¢¦..it was so ¢deep¢, so ¢soft¢, it made me wish I could crawl up into its warm, gray ¢lap¢ and sleep for a thousand years!.........the camp we¢ve set here on this lushly beautiful little knoll tonight is in a rhododendron thicket ¢¦.it faces this huge, ¢grandmother-like¢ mountain like a child upon her knee¢¦..we both have had showers¢¦..we¢ve had supper¢¦. an owl has just sounded a call to the mountain¢¦could we ask for more?a couple of other hikers have now quietly set up their camp here as well¢¦..it may rain¢¦..charlie is snoring¢¦.time for lights out¢¦.7:15¢¦.thank you, Lord, for working everything out for us in franklin¢¦.You are indeed an awesome God!oh my!¢¦you should¢ve seen how we ate at that shoney¢s food bar last night!=======2006======= wednesday, february 22, day 11, rock gap to just below wayah bald, 14 mi.trying hard on this very soggy evening not to be discouraged¢¦¢¦we had a hard climb over wayah in snow and rain and then the wind demolished my umbrella* at the summit!....still havin¢ trouble with the ol¢ bladder (the one in my body¢¦not the one in our shower bag!) i took some medicine i had in my pack¢¦almost overwhelmed as I stood shivering in the privy there on wayah¢¦.it all seemed like just too much¢¦..the first part of the day seemed really good, even though we started in the rain¢¦(the stars were actually out in the middle of the night, but by morning a blowing mist had started to pick up and we wrestled with strong winds along the way¢¦..after a while, though, the wind calmed down and i enjoyed a morning of prayer and singing¢¦..as i walked i envisioned my Savior¢s nail scarred feet walking before me¢¦¢¦i enjoyed our ¢conversation¢ ¢¦¢¦.but then came our time of ¢testing¢, i suppose, and wayah bald became a fierce contender¢¦¢¦will i ever learn to really trust God in the hard times?.....will I ever truly put my faith totally in him through life¢s storms?......i think now, huddled here on this mat with my stuff pulled in close to keep it from gathering too much black mud, ¢there are folks i know who have WAY BIGGER problems than what i¢ve experienced today ¢¦i lost a measly, little umbrella¢¦..what if, like troy and sarah, i had lost a child!....now THERE¢S some real pain!....how DO you cope with something like that?i would ask You this night, Loving Savior to be strong in your presence with the dubles¢¦.heal their pain¢¦restore their lives¢¦their joy¢¦..You BE their joy and sustain them as they seek to follow you through pain¢¦..and in your mercy remember us as well¢¦¢¦¢¦..16 miles tomorrow¢¦¢¦.we may be very wet¢¦¢¦i need your healing in my body¢¦¢¦..i praise you for all your blessings and goodness to us so far on this trip and over the years¢¦¢¦..make yourself known to my family tonight who are far, far away ¢¦¢¦i love You¢¦¢¦.. *NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS------*stuck out MY thumb¢¦¢¦.bill and diana had taught us it¢s best for the lady to ¢ask¢ for the hitch with a strong , but polite, thumb extended with confidence¢¦..the gentleman takes his stance just behind in support of his hitching companion¢¦..might just be a bunch of hooey, but it seemed to work for us¢¦¢¦. we ALWAYS gave much attention to prayer concerning hitches into town¢¦.and we ALWAYS had good ones!*umbrella¢¦..i¢m promising a great umbrella story in the coming pages!...stay tuned!