Date: 2005-03-22
From: Hiawassee,GA

To: Hiawassee,GA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

As you can see I have not left Hiawassee yet. It all begin when Break and I were heading toward Dick's Creek Gap the other day from Deep Gap. Her knees have been bothering her some and she said she may take a zero to give them some rest. I asked if she wanted company, knowing that the rest of the crew would probably take off. Obviously, she didn't think I was some kind of whacko cause here I am. However, that is not the end of the story. Not much was said about the zero because it was all dependant on the knees. Late last night she said she was going to to take one so I planned to do it also. This morning, at breakfast, I mentioned to Scholar that I was going to stay with Break. She looked at me and said, "Oh man, I wish you hadn't told me that." I grinned and nothing more was said. About a half hour later Break came down for breakfast. Wyatt,Jake,Weatherman,James and I were sitting there and someone asked Break when she was planning on heading out. She said she was staying. Weatherman looked at her and said, "Not to bust on your gimp knee but I'll stay too so I have someone I can keep up with". We all laughed and that made it the three of us. About twenty minutes later we saw Scholar in the lobby and Break and I talked to her about staying. Nothing forceful, other than trying to hide her pack from her. She didn't commit but when she walked away Break looked at me and said, "We've got her". I smiled and nodded. Sure enough a little while later Scholar decides she will stay also. So here we are, the same four that have been hanging together for the last few days hanging out again in Hiawassee. Life is good The rest of the crew were going to take off so we said our goodbyes and told them we would see them soon. This will put Longhaul two days up, and Amanda, Wyatt,Mike,and James a day ahead of us. Not that it matters because the trail is like a giant accordion. Always expanding and contracting. Around 10:00 I wandered up to the room and Break was sitting there writing down some notes. I started talking to her, on and off, and then I said, "Well, I am caught up on my journal. You need to get cracking on yours". Slowly, her head turns to me and she grins that grin again (I am thinking, Oops! I'm toast) and says, "I was, until SOMEBODY, started talking to me". Foiled again! In the early afternoon we caught a ride back to Neel's Gap from the local trail angel, Lori. Break wanted to get some new shoes and Weatherman was thinking about a coat of some sorts. It was a good afternoon to take a ride and not to hike. THe weather is miserable today. Rain,wind and cold. We all were saying how glad we were to not be out in that today. When we got to Neel's we found out that the hostel there was full. The Hiker Hostel was full as well as the Goose Creek cabins that were nearby. All with hikers coming down out of the mountains to get out of this weather. While Break was getting fitted I went through the thru hiker registry and counted 73 hikers who have signed in since we did on the 17th. SO far, at Neel's Gap, there have been about 305 hikers who have signed in as thru hikers this year. I don't know if this number is down from previous years or not. We got back to Hiawassee around 4:30 and just hung out, packing gear, going through food bags, all that fun stuff. Looks like we are going to shoot for Bly's Gap tomorrow. This means we will finish our first state, Georgia and move into North Carolina. As a sidenote, I am sitting at the computer at 3:45 AM typing this entry in. The cold has moved out of my head, for the most part, but as I went to bed last night I started a little cough. You know, that kind of cough where you have that little tickle at the back of your throat. You can't get rid of it and cough drops don't help a lot. I got up earlier tonight and came downstairs so I wouldn't keep all of them awake, went back to bed, and then started that cough again around 3:30. So here I am typing away while it is pouring outside! Sure hope that stops soon! Next updates may come from Franklin, if not, then it will be the NOC.