Date: 2010-04-30
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: clear sky

Good night's sleep...tented without the rainfly on my tent, so was almost like sleeping without a tent. My tent is mainly mesh except the floor, so when I don't have the rainfly on, it's like sleeping under the stars. The moon has been full, huge, and very bright the last couple of nights...awesome. Nice warm morning now that we're are a bit lower...probably about 45...shorts and tshirt weather...around 80 and sunny today. Everyone was excited about town day and was up early...I even got out of camp by 8...best time yet! Pretty easy hike down to town, so got to the outskirts around 10:30. Stopped at Uncle Johnny's Hostel right off the trail and caught up with Hedgehog, Hollywood, Mayberry Pete and a few others. Hitched a ride into town (4 miles) with Logos and Earthling...took about 20 minutes, so not too bad. Erwin is a long town...everything is spread out...hard to get around. I asked some locals where the hospital was and asked them if it was 3 blocks away or 10 blocks away as I was on foot. They said 3 blocks away. Maybe you already know where this is going...it was about 15 blocks away and about 1/2 back from where I started. At least I get there and I have some learnings from my last attempt at a cortizone shot: see if I can talk to the doc before I actually get an appointment (in this case an emergency room visit) to see if they will even give me a shot if warranted...I'm not paying for anymore visits so they can do nothing for me. The doc was nice enough to come out and see me, but he said they don't joint injections...this is a hospital, right? The ortho guy comes in on Mondays only! He said Abingdon is a larger town and I would probably have better luck there...I'll be there in about a week or so, so I'll try then. Or maybe when I finally get up to NY...we'll see...I'm actually getting more used to it. Once that fiasco was finished, I called the Super 8, booked a room, and they came and picked me up from the hospital...nice to have a free shuttle even though it was just the owner in his car. I checked in, showered, and the owner drove me to the laundry mat so I could do my laundry. All my clothes were wet and smelly, so I was walking around in just my rain gear (and underwear) in 85 weather...hot! Kind of creepy, but the chain-smoking, 60 year old, laundry lady took pity on me and said they had a some extra shirts she'd give me...she wouldn't give me a large though...said a medium would fit fine. I haven't worn a tshirt that tight since high school, but it was cooler than the rain jacket...thank god, she didn't have any shorts for me! Anyway, it was a bit past 5 and I needed to get back to the hotel to see if the owner would drive me back to the hiker cookout (started at 5). I had to walk back...but there was a train on the tracks blocking my way. And it just wasn't sitting there...it was going forward/backward as there was a loading station just down the tracks. So, me and about 20 cars had to patiently wait for about 40 minutes while this train got loaded...luckily there was a nice shade tree I could sit under. Needless to say, I get to the hotel and the owner is out...too late to get to the cookout anyway...maybe I'll run into a few people in town at one of the bars. NO! Evidently I'm in a dry county now and there are no bars...the humanity!!! This day is just not working out for me. With no sports bar in my future to watch the Hawks game, I opt for a Mexican restaurant. The owner graciously offers me his bike so I can ride the mile to the Mexican place...two miles and a busy road with no sidewalks. But the Mexican place does sell beer...come to papa, Tecate. I evidently need to do some more recon on this whole dry county thing...also saw beer in the store on my way back from the Mexican place (in the dark on the busy road with no sidewalks). Did I mention the bike has a the seat set so low my knees almost hit my chest and no brakes... Anyway, I did get a few Tecates and the food was good...I can sleep well tonight. Cheers.