Date: 2017-10-05
From: Ripshin Lake Cabib

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Entry by Frodo, who gets to write about the boring, nothing-exciting-happened zero day. (Scout¢is my wife saying that I left her the dregs?)We slept in this morning, getting up about 7:30 and heading upstairs to be greeted by Mango and Jane, the clean cheery faces of the zero-day-happy hikers, the glorious view of the lake, and a breakfast of quiche, cheese grits, toast and fruit. True confession ¢ I¢ve never had grits before. They were good. Mango assured us these were genuine grits ¢ cooked slow for a couple of hours.The hikers and I on the cabin deck, which overlooks the lake:  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...The SUV all packed up this morning:  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Mango is taking his granddaughter to a storytelling festival today so we headed into Erwin this morning, anxious to get settled into our digs for the night. There¢s really only one functioning motel in town ¢ the Super 8 ¢ and we were pleased that they have a room for one night for Dot & Franky and a room for two nights for Scout and me. You see, Jane had informed us that Erwin would be buzzing Friday and Saturday with the annual Apple Festival and that she was surprised we had been able to get motel reservations. I was too chicken to tell her we hadn¢t thought we would need reservations! But all turned out well and we were even able to check in early.We stopped by the Post Office and the library (that fortunately had a good selection of used paperbacks for sale in the basement )(Scout¢I got one last book to rip up and take in sections on the trail.), then drove around looking for a non-fast-food, non-meat-centric restaurant. Dot is vegetarian, after all. We pretty much struck out, then drove toward the Wal-Mart on the outskirts of town, where we remembered seeing an Italian restaurant when we had lunch yesterday at a Mexican restaurant. We first did resupply shopping, then tucked in for a great Italian lunch. The afternoon was spent with Scout doing emails, uploading photos, and participating in a telephonic board meeting for the Continental Divide Trail Coalition. I spent much of the time working on logistics. Scout¢s next zero day will be in popular Gatlinburg, TN, where most motels are booked up due to fall-color-viewing tourists. Our son Sean will join Scout there and hike with him for a couple of big days. Hope the trail will be kinder than it was when he joined Scout back in the very-tough Maine/New Hampshire border area. So I¢m setting up a complicated shuttle for them and for Sean¢s car. I think it will end up working well. Fingers crossed.I am really, REALLY glad that Scout will be home soon (Scout: I have been reading all this entry, hoping to turn the table, and that I¢ll get to make a snarky comment and then she throws this in. Not fair.) It¢s been a long time, but there¢s only about three weeks left. It¢s great that I could come east several times to spend time with him and provide support, but I still miss having him at home. I look forward to working together in our yard, cooking together in our kitchen, chatting randomly throughout the day, and waking up to him each morning. I certainly am way behind on my hug quota! (Scout¢As am I. I look forward to the time we can turn to the other with open arms and not be three time zones away.)We thought this was rather amusing:  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...