Date: 2004-08-18
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin 

To: Dalton
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: haze

What a strange, prickling, rolling, tedious, hilarious day. For the 4th day in a row Wipeout and I hiked together, for the second day in a row Chicago Rob hiked with us. It all started in the best way possible: All You Can Eat Blueberry Pancakes. I awoke around 7 a.m. after an excellent night¢s sleep. As I came downstairs I looked out at the gorgeous lake the cabin is set before. On the porch picnic table I began to write yesterday¢s journal. As I did I heart pots and pans clanging. Pete was in the kitchen :-) . I love our caretaker! Only minutes later Wipeout, Chicago, and I all had coffee and pancakes before us. I decided to stop after 4, though I could have eaten far more. After numerous thanks to Pete we all packed up and began the half mile side trail to the AT. Our official hiking miles began promptly at 10 a.m. The entire day today was an easy flat to rolling. We all hiked alone early on. I had a time of prayer and took a break 6 miles in. There, Wipeout and Chicago Rob joined me. The next 6 or 7 miles were hilarious. We joked, told stories, and sang the song game. Rob seemed to know a lot of 80¢s music and I was shocked as he revealed he was 34. After joking about him being an old man we hiked further. The trail was a boring repetition of green tunnel and mud. To keep us all going we told ¢bad state puns¢. Chicago Rob quickly joined in and Wipeout was in Missouri (misery). Iowa¢s afraid she would kill us with a knife Oregon (or a gun)¢¦ugh! Before long however, she joined in too. We covered capitals as well as states. Juneau the capital of Alaska? I thought the fun would never end when we were stopped by a cooler on the side of the trail. With 3 cold cokes in hand we took a break 14 miles in. As we left and began to hike, a weird thing happened. My entire body felt as though pins were pricking it, especially my back. At first it was a miner irritation, but after a mile I could barely walk. For the next 3 miles I tried an unorthodox solution: I hiked with my pack on backwards. I looked like a pregnant woman and I nearly tripped on a number of rocks and roots, but my back began to feel better. After 3 miles and a lot of laughing, I finally turned it back around. We covered the last few miles and skipped into town at about 7 p.m. We were all so happy to have arrived. As we entered town we met Tom Levardi, a well-known trail angel who lets hikers sleep on his porch. I had of course already called Rob at The Bird Cage, but it was fun to talk to Tom none the less. We walked to the shell Shell Station where Rob came to pick us up. The Bird Cage is a hostel in Dalton that is not in the guidebooks. You just go to the Dalton Shell Station and ask for Rob. Rob picked us up immediately and took us to his house. There he offered all of us a cold coke or beer. (All of you know what I chose :-) ). Within minutes he took our dirty clothes, pointed us toward the shower, and offered us clean hiker clothes¢¦WooHoo!Gorbachev, Did-Dug, Backdraft, Flav-a-Flav, Burnie, and more are here. I just found out the Olympics have started and I met a cool sobo, Hemmingway. Hemmingway has been here 16 days with a hurt foot and by chance knows my friend Audrey who I met in Pennsylvania. Chicago Rob is vegging by the couch, Wipe-out is on the phone, and I just got out of the shower. My foot is cut up pretty badly and I will need my zero tomorrow. Now I¢m going to to trade trail information with Hemmingway. I¢m so happy to be here. Goodnight,BEATBOX   ttt