Date: 2003-04-24
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Uncle Johnny's Hostel
Miles today: 16.8

4/24 Uncle Johnny¢s Hostel Erwin, TN 16.8 mi todayKevin, darlin¢, you know I love you, but it seems that I¢ve been unfaithful. I¢ve told you that I think of you as I trudge up mountain after mountain. But it¢s all a lie. I¢ve given my body over ¢¦(dramatic pause) to pizza and ibuprofen. Yes, these sins of the flesh I¢ve fallen to. There¢s a Pizza Hut in Erwin (which has a all-you-can-eat lunch buffet which all hikers have been drooling over). Even though I knew I¢d be in town for dinner, the taste of pizza was on my mind all day. And I was fueled with the gentle anesthetic of lots of ibuprofen over these 2 big-miles days. Lots o ups and lots of downs-big down into town-ooh yes, I still have knees!!! Today was odd because in the almost 17 miles that I hiked today, I passed only one person on the entire Trail-a day hiker heading south. No one passed me; I didn¢t pass anyone. It was like I was the only one hiking today. It was awesome! And last night at the shelter, there was only one other guy there and he left at the crack of dawn (to try to make Pizza Hut by lunch, of course). So I sprawled all my stuff across the shelter this morning and had a nice, quiet, relaxing morning before I hit the ¢deserted¢ Trail. How great!I reached ¢town¢ (really just a road that goes to Erwin) about 4:30. I had planned on staying at Uncle Johnny¢s Hostel, which is conveniently right off the Trail; I had a mail drop waiting for me there also. The hostel was nice enough, clean towels provided, and pillowcases (bonus!) I had read that Uncle Johnny was quite a character- I thought it was the good kinda crazy eccentric country old man. No. Johnny is almost definitely bipolar and I got to witness a great manic phase. It¢s a complicated story that I wont go into, but in the end he threw one hiker out and denied selling him a replacement water filter for- the only reason it a appears to be- that the hiker accepted a ride from town out to this hostel from Johnny¢s hostel nemesis- miss Janet. Apparently there¢s some blood feud between them, or at least Johnny just wont have anything to do with anything associated with Miss Janet. Then he almost came to blows with another hiker that stood up for the first hiker. So the second hiker decided to jump ship at the same time Johnny threw him out too. All this within about the first half hour after I arrived from my peaceful, wonderful hike. I just kinda stood in the shadows thinking ¢Yikes! But can I still get a ride to town to get pizza?¢So I got a ride from some other day hikers who were staying at the hostel-they were going to a diner and I just couldn¢t stand the thought of mushy vegetables, so I bade them farewell and took off for the Pizza Hut where I proceeded to demolish the Family Feast or whatever. Actually it was a medium pizza w/breadsticks (meant for 2, I think) and I left on piece standing. The waiter came by and asked if I need a box halfway through and I just laughed at him. Was able to get a ride back to hostel by a former thru-hiker (neen) who has just been driving around Trail towns the past week giving thru-hikers rides- how cool! Didn¢t get the best night¢s sleep-had a snorer in the bunkhouse, who would stop when the train went by, but then of course the train woke me up too. Remembered my earplugs about 3am and that helped a bit. Rain tomorrow-wonder what I¢ll do.