Date: 2005-04-13
From: Hot Springs

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Weather: Cool, rainy, drizzly, cloudy or overcast all day.Yesterday evening it cleared up enough that I thought I would hike on this morning. But when I got up it was cold and rainy. Since it was going to be a crummy day I thought I¢d just hitch back to Newfound Gap and bring the Blazer forward to Hot Springs.The first thing I did was have breakfast at the Smokey Mountain Diner. When I got there around seven only a few locals were eating breakfast. I thought at first that all the hikers had been there and gone. Not so. They came in later.I started hitching around 8 and it went something like this.1. First I hitched a ride with a local and his young son going over to Newport¢¦nice guys¢¦dropped my off at the I40 ramp2. There I got picked up by a guy and his Pekinese going to Knoxville to visit the wife who is in an intensive care unit there after suffering a heart attack. He had to make a short stop in town. I really screwed up big time when I didn¢t have him drop me off at the 411 exit. I ended up going the long way around via Dollywood (Pigeon Forge) He ended up dropping me off at the Sevierville exit.3. The next guy was a floor contractor who took me into Pigeon Forge¢¦the long stretch of motels and amusements. Nice guy with a nice smile, only problem was he didn¢t speak much English. We managed to link up on a few key words like ¢rain¢ and ¢Smokey Mountains.¢ When we made a stop at his condo so he could change clothes he came out with a fruit cup which I ate right away. He dropped me off across from a trolley stop that runs along the strip.4. There for a quarter, I rode one of those ¢cable car looking¢ buses along the route inching closer to Gatlinburg. I got into quite a nice conversation with the operator as I was the only person on the bus. All kinds of vintage cars were arriving for a big weekend show¢¦he said it would be packed this weekend¢¦actually for being a cold rainy day there were enough people driving around and at the restaurants. He dropped me off at the eastern most point where I would have to walk 3 lights to hitch or pick up the Gatlinburg trolley. These ¢blocks¢ each had to be a half mile long. I tried hitching while walking with my pack on but got no ¢trail angels.¢ I did drop in at a Long John Silvers for a nice fried fish dinner and lots of fries. 5. Where Pigeon Forge ends and the four lane starts I hitched a ride in the back of a small pickup with a young couple up front. They took me to the entrance to The Smokey Mountain National Park where I have ¢thumbed before.¢6. The last ride was with a guy on business going over the mountain on 441. This guy was not a tourist and couldn¢t understand why people were lollygagging around at 45 mile an hour when the speed limit was 35. He was always right on the ass of the car ahead, but I have to hand it to him¢¦he never swore or gave anyone the finger. He was nice enough to pull over and slow down while I hopped out right behind my Blazer. The adventure was over around 230 and kinda fun at that. I never doubted I would make it in good time.The Blazer was fine¢¦no vandalism¢¦started right up and I was on my way. I saw this Motel 6 at Newport for $29.99. Hell, I paid Harold $40 with no TV and this was only a half hour away from the Trail. So I stopped there for the night. It was one of the nicest rooms I have stayed in in a long time. Clean, new, cable, good water pressure¢¦everything. The manager said they take great pride in this place. They also had a heated pool and hot tub. It was great¢¦in the cold, windy miserable weather outside, I was soaking in the hot tub by myself¢¦.thought I had died and gone to heaven.Next door was a western steakhouse where I went for a prime rib dinner.Some zero days are very productive.