Date: 2006-04-21
From: Dennis Cove/Kinkora Hostel

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: 0

Cell good.Todays motto: ¢If you don¢t hike in the rain, you¢ll never get to Maine.¢ The rain was on and off all day. We kept our rain suits on, but we still got wet. Tomorrow morning I have to put those same wet clothes on and hike in them all day. If the sun comes out they will hopefully dry. Now the motto will keep me going tomorrow, too. We have to make progress each day or we¢ll never complete our journey at Mount Katahdin, Maine.Today¢s song was ¢April Showers. "When April showers come your way, they bring the flowers that bloom in May.¢Today we learned what Watauga Lake looks like. It is a TVA man-made lake. I think we got to see the whole thing. Right now we¢re camped on a cliff that overlooks one of the communities on the lake. I saw a couple of marinas, and if it were a good weather I bet the boats would have been out.I¢m glad so many people are signing my guest book. Sue reads me the entries when we speak. I appreciate all the words of encouragement. I, too, followed Trail Journals the last few years, and was thrilled to see the progress people made. As always in life, doing it is different. I tell myself the same thing I did when I was at Parris Island...¢Others have done this before and I can do it, too.¢When things get tough I also tell myself ¢If this were easy everyone would be doing it.¢ That means the rain, the hard uphill climbs, the pack discomfort, and all the other difficulties I face. I love backpacking, and I¢m glad I¢m attempting this. Thank you Waite Philips for providing me a place to learn the skills of backpacking and develop the love of the outdoors.This is a morning addition: It rained very hard all night and I was warm and comfortable in my tent. The rain tapping on the tent made it easy to sleep; it is possible the miles of hiking helped too.I¢m in my tent hoping the rain will stop so I can pack up my gear. I want to use the time to update my the info on my gear - The Big Agnes Mystic 15 degree sleeping bag is very comfortable, at times now it¢s too warm and I¢ll be switching it to a different bag soon. My Eureka Spitfire is comfortable and dependable, I sealed it at NOC and I love it. The waek point in the sealing is the velcro patch that is used on the roof vent. It is under the flap and doesn¢t look like it needs sealing, but it does. The Gregory Z pack will be going home in Damascus. I¢m switching to my external frame pack, the belts dig into my hips, and I become very uncomfortable. Many hikers are cursing their Gregory packs - I¢m sorry I got it. Thermarest is the only way to go for sleeping comfort. Length is a personal preference, I¢ll stick with the regular length 70 inches. Insulated underwear is a must and are working fine. I love the convertable zipoff leg pants - they can go from pants to shorts in two minutes. I¢ll review other stuff later.Old GoatSue's Note: Even with the rain, Old Goat is doing very well. The only dry things he had when he called me was his long johns and his sleeping bag. He was comfortable, but dreaded knowing he will have to put on wet clothes in the morning.He ran into two women who are past thru-hikers. After talking for a while one told him "you have a good attitude - you'll do ok." He liked hearing that. He has a positive attitude about this whole adventure - it's wonderful to hear him so cheerful and positive when we talk.On the home front, I've had a bug of some sort this week. I started feeling sick Wednesday afternoon (couldn't eat anything without feeling nauseous). I thought maybe it was from not eating very well since Old Goat has been gone, but I know now it's a bug of some sort. I went home sick from work after an hour yesterday and came home today mid-day. I slept 3 hours each day after I came home and still cannot eat anything without feeling nauseous. I miss my friend who gives me sympathy at times like this. Oh well - this will pass!