Date: 2016-05-13
From: super 8 Erwin, TN

To: unnamed camp site
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: few clouds

Day 33- May 14, 2016Dregs here,We woke up this morning in our Super 8 motel room and headed down for free breakfast. My leg was still hurting and all of my research points to shin splints. I have heard of people able to continue hiking with this injury and sometimes it even gets better. I spent most of last evening trying to figure out how I could be one of those people. It seems that because of where it hurts and that it only hurts on downhill steps, that the cause is the way my foot lands or high impact on down hills. My plan for the day is to adjust my gait so that I don't walk with the weight leaning on the outside of my feet and also to land toe first on down hills. Plus lots of stretching.Breakfast was ok but also plentiful so we took our time. Funfact headed up early to pack up as he is headed Johnson city to rent a car. He was planning on hitching a ride and needed to get there by 12 before the rental place closes. He is leaving the trail for 4 days for a planned family thing. Sadly it does likely mean not seeing him again for a long time or forever. Very sad day.As we packed up our stuff the itchiness on Chicken Hawks feet began to let up. I guess that means it's not poison ivy thankfully. Check out time was 11am and we were only planning on going 12 miles so we were not rushing at all. I got a text from Funfact stating that he had gotten to Johnson City and had his rental car. He was offering to pick us up and take us to the trail. We of course accepted and rushed to get ready. He was coming in to get us as we were headed out to wait for him. It was nice not to have to hitch hike but even nicer to see our buddy one last time.He dropped us off and we headed back into the woods. As always it felt like going home again. We waved as Funfact drove away and started a 6 hour drive. The first couple of miles were very easy and a good place to practice my new hiking strides. I was using Chicken Hawks trekking poles so I could have a full set with my injury. That left her with just one and she doesn't like the scratchiness of mine. So then I had one of mine and one of hers, it was odd have 2 different trekking poles. It gave me the idea that if we found a good stick then she could have both of hers back and I would be in basically the same situation. I prayed for the perfect stick and told Chicken Hawk to keep an eye out. Minutes later she found literally the perfect stick. It's the right height and even has handle. I spent the rest of the day focusing on my steps and stride and praying for help in finding a solution to my shin problem. Time will tell if my changes will help. We hiked slower than usual because of me but I felt I could go on much farther. About half way through the day Chicken Hawk got really excited and yelled "Look at the Bloom-a-dendron!" Sure enough there was a beautiful pinkish purple bloom on a rhododendron bush just ahead. From one day to the next the blooming had started. It was very exciting to see and we can't wait to see when they are all in bloom.We crossed a very cool high mountain bald called beauty spot and the cold wind started whipping. We got down to the place where we planned to camp and found no level area for our tent. I had to make some adjustments to the leaves on the ground to create some flat land for ourselves. In the end it worked well enough. We are currently nestled in our tent getting ready for bed on what seems like it will be one of the coldest nights so far.