Date: 2005-03-22
From: Holiday Inn Express, Hiawassee, GA

To: Holiday Inn Express, Hiawassee, GA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I had every intention of spending several solid hours typing up Jess' entries, but I got distracted by neck pain and the O.C. and a phone call with Tammy. But I am back and will try to do two entries tonight, with only minimal breaks to play the "Sara waited 'til the last minute to decide to visit grad schools and oh boy is she going to be friends with the budget airfare websites now" game.In honor of my phone call with Tammy (who is uploading pictures to this site even as we speak), I present to you all, verbatim, our commentary on Jess' journey:Sara: it sounds kind of fun, except for the whole outside in nature partTammy: oh, i think that sounds funTammy: the all day walking part, not so muchSara: trueTammy: the getting up early part, definitely not.Sara: i'd like it if it were sitting and indoorsTammy: i bet you could sit and be indoors for five monthsTammy: and reach your destination as scheduledSara: i totally couldSara: would you post pictures for me?Tammy: yeah, since you couldn't get up from sitting, i would have toTammy: of course, most of your pictures would look the sameTammy: but art is about subtletyWe'll be here the whole time folks, doing the play-by-play and artwork!Day Ten: In which Jess sits around on her duff all day, exerts peer pressure to get others to do the same, buys shoes (women, always with the shoes...), sleeps alone after sweaty hikers decline to share a bed with her, and regrets her failure to document a homoerotic moment: In the morning, Mike, James, Amanda, Wyatt, Jake, and Raz left. I was sorry to see them pull ahead, but I also knew unequivocally that my knees needed a full day off. Sooner or later I figured I'd run into them again. I wasn't sorry to be spending the day indoors either: the weather forecast was for severe thunderstorms and cold temperatures. CuppaJoe would also be zeroing that day, I knew.Over breakfast I was delighted when Weatherman jumped on the wagon. "Don't mean to be crackin' on your gimpy knees," he said, waving his bandaged ankle, "but I need to hike with someone who can keep pace with my bum foot." The three of us looked over at Scholar, dressed and ready to go in the lobby, pack leaned against the wall. "I'm going," she said. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked. "Severe thunderstorm forecast," said CuppaJoe. "Severe." "You don't want to go out in that," said Weatherman. She cracked. It was kind of an amazing moment. You could see it happen. Brilliant.In the afternoon, trail angel Lori returned to drive me down to the outfitters at Neel's Gap to buy a new pair of shoes (retail therapy: redux)-- as Lori said, "Honey, if your toenails are falling off," (they were) "your shoes are too damn tight." I said farewell to my boots and left, happily, with a roomier-- and much lighter!-- pair of trail shoes, midway between boots and trail runners, hoping also that the lighter footwear would help my knees (they say every pound of weight on the feet is equivalent to carrying five pounds of weight on the back). The employees at Neel's were extremely helpful, and I'm grateful to them and, again, to Lori for her help.In the evening, I lay back with my knees up, watched the Jack Nicholson movie marathon, and enjoyed the bourgeois luxury of the Holiday Inn Express mattresses. I was the only one enjoying it, since the others all claimed they could only get any sleep on the floor now. I said I guessed I wasn't that much of a thru-hiker yet. Then two more hikers knocked on our door, wondering if there was any room left at the inn-- Vinni Vitti Vici [sic] and Toolman, whom I recognized as the "bread guys," since we'd last seen them leaving Springer with enormous loaves of whole wheat bread strapped to the outside of their packs. (They'd since ditched the bread.) And as I was, at the time, the only one even using a bed, VVV and TM-- two big guys-- scrunched in together in the other bed. They were curled up snoring sweetly in the morning when we left. I should have taken a picture.