Date: 2008-03-30
From: No Business Knob Shelter (3180')

To: Uncle Johhny's Hostel/Bunkhouse
Miles today: 6.3

Slept alright last night and was out around 8:30 for Erwin. Ate some cookies and cereal bars and I'm still not sure if I'm staying in Erwin or not. The walk down was nice and reminded me of the descent into the NOC. I was at Uncle Johnny's at 10 something and they didn't have Esra's package (or so they claimed). They let me use the bunkhouse to get out of the wind and set my stuff up. Dynamite, Shepherd, and CJ all showed up and checked in and I decided to stay because I had a lot of stuff I wanted to buy, eat, reorganize, and send home and I didn't want to be rushed. Also I could still reach kincora in the same amount of time as if I left today and stayed about 4 mi up the trail. I checked my e-mail and charged my phone and we all got a shuttle into town to eat and resupply. We ate at a Chinese Buffet and got there as it opened. We all had about 3 full plates including desert and I felt like I was going to explode. I could barely look at food afterwards but it was delicious at the start. It was only $9 as well. I held on to my food in my belly and headed up to the dollar store where I got the food and candy I needed as well as a phone card for my phone. Everyone else went to food lion afterwards and we waited to get picked up. I got to read a paper and see what was going on with the basketball tournament. When we got back I just tried to digest my food for a little but and watch basketball. I activated my phone which required about 200 numbers to be plugged in. After that I made some calls and talked to Ben for a little and found out he got into Carnegie Mellon but is leaning towards Michigan it seems. That should be a fine school for him and I'm sure he'll be good wherever he ends up. I also found out Uncle Tom was looking for me yesterday and had stopped by the bunkhouse to see if I was in. One of the guys that worked there had said someone was looking for me but the note he left had blown away. Turns out it was Uncle Tom and Rory. I called Esra after unsuccessful attempts at calling my parents and found out what was going on at home. She said the package should have gotten in on Friday so when I went back I asked to look where they keep their mail and the package was right on top of the pile. It had my tent pole, memory card, a letter from Esra, and Grammie (two different letters), some girl scout cookies, two lipton noodle packs, a page from my bird calendar with a good picture of a bird on it, a tick identification guide and a guide to Maine Animal tracks (both from Grammie) which I won't need for a little while, a phone card, and a Cuban peso with Ch© on the back from my mom's trip to Cuba. Once I opened that I hurried to the outfitter to buy the things I need before Johnny left on a shuttle run. I bought a new wind screen, two test stakes that work as a pot stand, a plastic container for my Hot Sauce (as opposed to the glass bottle I've been carrying around) and a stuff sack for my clothes and as I was buying all this stuff who should walk in but my Uncle Tom. I put my stuff away and we headed towards Asheville. I talked to my parents and he called Rory to meet us for dinner. We went to a nice sit down place and got a bunch of Nachos with good stuff all over them and I got a rack of ribs with mashed potatoes and coleslaw. It was all very delicious and we left to go to Uncle Tom's house. He picked me up some beer on the way and Rory had gotten me cookies and cream ice cream. It was nice to be back at that house as it had been so long and it brought back a lot of good memories. Uncle Tom showed me his bike. I don't know much about motorcycles but this one seemed nice. Lots of custom stuff on it and it was a Harley. He said it drove so much better than his old one which I had ridden on once. It seems like once you buy a bike you've still got a long way towards making it your own. He had it for 2 1/2 years and was still adding stuff. We watched a couple of innings of the Nats season opener in their new stadium and President Bush was in the announcers booth talking baseball for 2 innings. He seemed a lot more likeable in a relaxed setting. After hanging out at the house a bit Uncle Tom drove me back to the hostel. It was great to see him and Rory and they left me with a bunch of food they had leftover from a trip they took a little while back. It was all good stuff and I'm mailing it to Damascus so I won't have to buy anything there. For him and Rory to drive and meet me, pick me up, and take me to dinner meant a lot and I was really grateful and pleasantly surprised by the outing as it was completely different from what sitting around the hostel like I thought I was going to do that evening. I got back well fed and had a lot of good time to talk with Uncle Tom on the ride to Asheville and back. Asheville was also the biggest city I have been in by far since Atlanta a little less than a month ago. When I got back I organized my mail that I was going to send out and went to bed. I can't say enough how nice it was for Uncle Tom to take me out and be so accomodating. He also left me with some firestarters which will be great for future campfires. Tomorrow is another day on the trail.