Date: 2010-04-19
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 11.0

Set my alarm for 5:45am like I was going to get any sleep at all by the train tracks. I woke up at 5:33am before the alarm. Packed my bag and wallked to the dinner in my flip flops. I was so cold that I stopped halfway between town to warm up at a gas station. The road was very busy because of I40 being closed due to a rock slide. iSlack was sitting there eating biscuits and gravy and he invited me to sit with him. I sat down and ordered coffee. Charged my phone. We talked about Seattles rainforest and Mtn. Rainer. He's staying at Elmers tonight. Chef came in just as I was scavenging iSlacks left over biscuits and gravy. Well, I say gravy, but what I really mean is...mud. It tasted and looked just like clay with flower. I still ate it. Ratman, Tumbler, Sid and 6 Course came in and sat right beside us. Their meal looked like Thanksgiving breakfast! I gave them some food that I could'nt carry and they offered me free hotel instant coffee!I left the dinner and went straight to the post office. I sent home 4.5lbs of gear. Winter gear like gloves and an extra long sleeve shirt I'd only worn once since Springer. I also disposed of my ground tarp. I wrote Lish a letter on the dinner napkin and put a coffee stained kiss like women leave lipstick on a note. Haha! The library wasn't opened so I talked with Atlas about being a cheap skinflint and the joys of "Couchsurfing.com" When the library opened I tried downloading photos for at least two hours. Their system was worthless. Wnet to the outfitters for alcohol fuel and Aquamira (water treatment). They had a really cool shirt with an old long haired bearded man carrying the globe on his backpack. I walked back to the library to try again to no avail. I heard that Fun Dip was looking for me in town. We walked to the payphone but the reciever didn't work. I used the gas station phone to make a calling card call but no one was home to answer. I left Dad a message and walked out of the station. Fun Dip gave me an almond snickers bar! My favorite!I walked down to the outfitters to try uploading files there but it was the same slow useless old thing. Thought I'd get a milkshake at the Dairy shop, but they're not open on Mondays? I met Ice. He showed me a picture of the local town sign that they changed the lettering on to say something vulgar. Funny though. It stayed up all weekend before someone noticed. I walked back and bought ice cream from the gas station and shared with Fun Dip and McKinley. Super Max came over to tell me that the library computers started working just as I walked out the last time. I decided to try again and it finally worked!Fun Dip left and I stayed until 2:30pm. Studmuffin and I crossed the bridge out of Hot Springs at the same time. There was a cop car with flashing lights at the trail head. The Cheif of Police in Hot Springs, NC was there wearing a "POLICE" tee-shirt two sizes to small for his hairy pot belly. It complimented his exposed underwear and plumbers crack nicely. I started to go up the trail and he told me that I'd have to wait. There was, "Offical Police business going on!" What he meant to say was someone got away from them in their own headquarters. Turns out the guy stole a car to go see his girlfriend in another state. The cops arrested him for car theft and then he excaped from their jail somehow. All this and he ended up on the other side of town, running up the AT? Cumquat, Captain Radish and a few others waited it out by the trailhead. We waited until 4pm before he would let us pass on. The fugitive was 400ft away the whole time. He was hiding behind a tree in the neighborhood right by the AT. I had already started making dinner when they let them go onto the trail so I stayed behind and ate.I hiked to Rich Mtn. firetower to see the sunset.Boss, Dutchess, Not Bad were camping on the tower. It was too cold for me up there. There's a possiblity of a storm coming in tomorrow also. I called Lish and Dad! Lish thinks her Queen Bee might have gotten away! Dad wanted to know if I was ready for him to come get me yet? Not even close!! Muahahha!The fruiting bushes after the concrete pond and dam had so many bumble bees! Ahhh! It sounded like putting your ear right against a bee hive. They were buzzing all over the place. I stopped for a photo and the bees started flying really close to me. I took it as a warning and passed by as fast as possible. Wow, the smell in the air there was so sweet! Smelled like a sugar factory.I finally worked out that song I'd been trying to write. I recorded me whistling it and skipping to the beat in my camera. I hope that now I can get the inspiration out here to write my first lyrics!I hiked in the pitch black night for 3 hours! Hiking at night is AMAZING! You notice so many different features in the environment. Your imagination can really get the best of you out there in the night. I like it! It's fun and cool. Cool as in temperature. I got to the shelter at 11:00pm. I tried so hard to be quiet putting up my tent. I'm so tired tonight! I slept with my food bag because I didn't have the energy to hang a bear rope. Didn't notice the bear cables in the darkness. Apparently, some nut has been walking at night on the AT. He comes into shelters shining his headlamp on the inhabitants. Doesn't say anything or harm anyone. He's just weird. Well, I didn't want to be mistaken for that guy, so I didn't even look or go past the shelter.