Date: 2005-04-12
From: Stan Murray Shelter (TN)

To: Buck's Place Diner (TN)
Miles today: 10.4

Day 314/12Start: Stan Murray ShelterFinish: Buck's Unused Apartment CouchMiles: 10.4Weather: am cloudy, pm rainyToday signified my one-month anniversary on the trail, so I decided to drop the idea of trying for another big day and taking things nice and slow. I slept in the morning and left the shelter after almost everyone else. The rain held off entirely during the morning, so I walked over the remaining balds very slowly and spent a good bit of time on top of Hump Mountain. I marveled at the beauty of the landscape through which I was passing and even more so at the majesty of the landscape's Creator. I thanked God for the opportunity to be able to take this trip and I reflected on all He has provided over the past month. I was very happy to be alive and to be the recipient of so many other daily blessings.A nice afternoon stroll brought me to Apple House Shelter, where I found Waypoint and a couple of restaurant menus in the register bag. Oftentimes, you will find such propaganda in shelters that are close to roads, at which point the sirens begin to sing. I checked the Thru-hiker Companion to see if the place a mile away had resupply and, after finding out that it did, waited for others who might want to give in to such temptations. Shortly thereafter, DuBious showed up and we were on our way.To our knowledge, Buck's Place was a mile down the road and it had a diner, short-term resupply and free camping. When we arrived we found out that the diner was excellent, the resupply was non-existent and the free camping was actually an empty apartment. Two out of three is not bad! The Mountain Burger with a side of fries is a great choice for lunch, especially when topped off with a milkshake (I suggest peanut butter). After lunch, DuBious and I dropped off our packs in the apartment and went to the bar next door for a couple games of pool. After our second game, El Jeffe, Geranimo and Flip showed up, so it was back to the diner.Buck's Place could easily be a great hiker hostel in the near future. Buck is a very nice guy and his facilities show a good bit of potential. He had us create a collaborative list of resupply items that are popular with hikers, so hopefully he will have that set up soon. Regardless of whether you need to resupply or not, the menu items decribed above easily justify the detour.Anniversary Recollection: This was truly a great day. After such an unpleasant ending to yesterday with the painful results of blind ambition and lack of sober forethought, I was very glad to just relax my body and mind from the (mostly fabricated) stresses of getting to a certain place at a certain time. Stress on the trail is a strange sensation, but it does exist. I was able to eliminate it to a certain degree by the end of my hike, but I still allowed situations to frustrate me and initiate stress much more than I should have. The majority of yesterday was such a situation, but today, by God's grace, was the antithesis of stress. Boy, did this feel good - having the assurance that everything was going to be all right and that I could just sit back and enjoy the ride. So that is what I did - over the many beautiful bald mountains the trail crossed with their high wind, soft grass and endless views. And through the skeleton of leafless forest that seemed much thicker after descending from the open balds but that still revealed an obscured preview of my narrow, brown path as it swooped around the giant bowls of forested earth, gradually making its way to the valley floor like the flight pattern of a large, heavy bird. And finally along that valley floor with its lush, green, aquatic change in setting - the place to which all life retreated for the winter - and its easy walking with flat expanses and soft topsoil underfoot. By the time I reached the valley's bottom, I felt as if my heart was elated to height far above the bald mountains over which I had passed and as if my soul was in a place far more comforting than the flourishing garden that now surrounded me. This great day of hiking ended with a different sort of adventure. Namely, DuBois and I were taking a bit of a risk by straying from the trail in this region. This area of Tennessee has been the site of at least one hiker's rape and (I believe) another's murder. Due to (probably over-emphasized) Eminent Domain acquisitions along with a general distaste for anything either associated with the national government or different than their way of life, the citizens of this area generally do not like the trail or those who travel on it. Having some sense of this as we entered town, I did so with a watchful eye and a lack of ease. Walking into town, DuBois flagged down a pre-teen local riding an entirely too large dirt bike and asked the kid for directions to Buck's Place. The kid looked clueless, so DuBois mentioned The Beer Wash (Buck's bar) and the youngster quickly gave us the simple directions before speeding off through the intersection and into a wheelie for the next fifty yards.At the Beer Wash, I let my guard down against the locals accidentally. Several older men were drinking at the bar when I asked where the pool tables were located. One of the older men said "Boy, you been hiking that trail all this time and you don't even know how to find a pool table?!?" I gave the old timer a smug look and replied with lightly masked sarcasm "Well, we don't see too many pool tables on the trail, so I've forgotten what they look like." The man, who looked like he had long since smoked away the ability to change his facial expression, seemed to give me the look of "Boy, if I was 20 years younger, I'd beat your surly butt up and down this bar." DuBois later confirmed the message of the man's expression. Later in the evening, we had no problem co-existing with some of the younger locals, but I did have to make an effort not to respond to their blatantly racist and sexist comments. As much as I liked Buck's Place itself, I was glad to move past this town.