Date: 2006-03-24
From: Big Spring Shelter

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We awoke to a winter wonderland today! There was around 2 inches of snow on the ground when we woke up. We were alone in the shelter, so we cooked breakfast while still in our bags. So nice when it¢s cold out.We hiked 9 miles through the snow. It was so beautiful! Even better knowing we were not going to have to camp in it tonight. Today was our scheduled stop at Franklin NC. - So we are in central heated bliss.In town we saw Pi, Mad Dog, Novocain, Bear Bell, Critter, Railroad, Hindsfeet, Chou Chou, Oh2beeHiking, Stinger, Swamp Dog, the Wrens and a bunch of others we are probably forgetting.Tonight we are meeting the reporter that we saw on Albert Mtn. at Cafe Rel for dinner. Ahh happy days.Tomorrow we are back to the reality of the snow, mud and miles.No big problems today. We are still feeling pains every now and then. Especially in my right foot and Coyotebec's right knee/hamstring.We¢re trying to stretch, but it¢s so cold there's never a great time during the day to do it. We did our full Pilates routine today in the shelter - so we are trying to stay vigilant with our injury prevention.More tomorrow...From CoyotebecWe tried hitchhiking into Franklin. At first we were hithching the wrong direction. Thank goodness we didn't get picked up. We figured out the correct direction, but were kind of shy and didn't have any luck. We called the Budget Motel - they really cater to hikers. Oh, I forgot to writer about Albert Mountain climb - it was a steep but short hike. At the top, we met a photographer for the Franklin paper She was very interested in us and told us of a good restaurant - Cafe Real in Franklin. We agreed we may meet up tonight.From the motel, we took a quick bath - mildewy tub -gross. Any other time, I wouldn't have stayed here, but it was worth it for the hospitality. We walked down to the Cafe Real for lunch - It was packed with our kind of people (like the ones when we were home). When we walked in we knew Linda had steered us the right way. We had a delicious salad and sandwich followed by a huge slice of chocolate cake - Yum! I can't believe everyone goes for the all you can eat buffets over this!Funny story - we were walking to the restaurant when we hear GUMBY!!! It was Hindsfeet. She came running out of the Internet cafe and gave us a hug. When we were leaving lunch we passed her going back to the trail and gave her our left over sandwich.We did laundry - Pi's too (Lenny from the Blueberry Patch set a good example for me). Then we spent some time writing emails. The hotel provided Internet and shuttles which we took advantage of. We went to the outfitter store - one of the nicest buildings I have seen, then the grocery. I am still trying to figure out the best eating for us onthe trail. We couldn't find every thing we wanted, but this in itself is an adventure.The shuttle dropped us off at Cafe Real for our 7 PM date with Linda and Cindy. Pi joined us. What a wonderful evening it was an a pile of food. They were genuinely interested in our trip. They wanted to know how we got our trail names etc. This is on of the first people I have told the real story of how I got my name Coyotebec.