Date: 2005-04-14
From: Franklin, NC

To: Wine Spring
Miles today: 8.2

It was nice to stay at the Haven Hotel, nothing fancy and the price was right. A warm bed, hot shower and TV set ( again life is good). Another visit to the feeding trough, laundry done by 9 am and off to the Three Eagle Outfitters. My military issued Reichle boots blew out a few miles back. I was hoping they would last through the Smokies, I even had them re-stitched back home, no such luck. Heck they went through four wars and were about 14 years old when they finally fell apart, we got our tax moneys worth out of them. They were good boots but they went the way of the Dodo and ended up in the trash (to heavy and what can I say, I'm old school). I purchased a new pair of Hi tech boots and broke them in on the trail. The way I did it was like this, after water proofing with Sno-seal, I pain stakingly took them off every 20 minutes for two days. I switched out socks one foot to the other or simply replaced them with the driest I had on me. Socks often hung on the outside of my pack, inside out to have more surface of sock (the fuzzy part) to air contact. Breaking in the new foot ware worked out well. This technique I used two more times on the trail.    I also purchased a denatured alcohol stove. There are issues with denatured alcohol that needs to be made aware of right from the git go. Cooking for one, just takes practice and I planned on having a lot of free time over the next 5 or 6 months so, I adjusted. Denatured Alcohol is a good way to go if you are weight conscious. I would recommend looking in to the most fuel efficient one you could find. Mine sucked down the fuel like my old Dodge truck back home. I adjusted by carrying a little extra fuel for longer hiking periods between towns. I also put my fuel in a plastic gator aid bottle and put that in to an old cut down sock. The sock protected the bottle, prevented accidental consumption (What, it could happen) and acted as a pot holder when need be. Minimalistic approach, everything having a dual purpose. Purchasing the fuel can be an issue here and there but for the most part it wasn't a problem.    Keep this in mind, there is a reason why smaller stores may not have any, that's because they cannot buy it in large quantities. Seems it is used in the production of meth-amphetamines (so I have been told), so it may be a matter of availability. There are alternative products like HEET (this is how it is spelled), this comes in a yellow bottle. Normally used as a gasoline antifreeze that has Methyl Alcohol in it. You can find it in some stores, automotive part suppliers and even Walmart. Trail talk is that it burns dirtier then denatured alcohol. I did not notice at all however it did seem to burn longer and hotter for me. You can also find denatured alcohol in hardware stores as a cleaning agent. All in all it is a good fuel source. Keep in mind that some places even sell it by the ounce.    What happened next was unusual, I wound up saying to myself before this day was done, "where the heck was my debit card"?!? Last time I used it was when I drew cash from the bank near the hotel. Two of my last brain cells collided together and I came up with this realization. The ATM machine ate my card, and that is just what it did. It was a drive up ATM and the way I figured it the fact I was standing in front of it made me unable to see the card pop out of the machine when the transaction was done. A matter of ergonomics, or that I was still walking in a full bellied hiker haze. Fact was I got the cash, the receipt but failed to pull out the card in time before it sucked it into the banker's abyss. I used my alternate credit card to pay the bill (always have a plan B), and took the shuttle back to the bank. Once there I pleaded my case, batted my blue eyes to the ladies there and begged forgiveness. Normally they said, they would destroy all non local bank cards however, in my case they would make a exception (Trail magic I tell you).    I didn't get to the trail head until 2:12 PM after a ten dollar taxi fare. Lesson learned? Heck no, I did it again later in the trip and that confirmed it, I am an idiot. I moved on and past the first of two Siler's Balds on the trail. It was nice, I did not go to the top. I figured I would save it for a future day hike, after all the load was heavy, I was hung over and over fed plus my butt was tired. I only got in 8.2 miles before stopping for the night at a campsite near Wine Spring. There were familiar faces there so I settled in for the night. Other hikers I met, Sherlock (the female one) from Portland Oregon, Bear (Bjorn) from Phoenix AZ, Sean and Daniel from Goldsboro NC, plus Jaywalker, Baby steps and Chipmunk.