Date: 2014-04-22
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

I spent the night at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn in Hot Springs. I took my time getting up this morning since I needed to wait until after 9am for the Post Office and the outfitters to open. I gladly accepted Lisa's offer to buy my breakfast at the Smokey Mountain Diner. We had met briefly at church on Palm Sunday and followed up with email communications. I celebrated my getting back on the trail with a breakfast of pancakes, over-easy fried eggs, grits, bacon, OJ and Coffee. I told myself after this I will back off for a while on the cholesterol. The fasting of Lent has passed but I still need to fast from meats on a limited scale. Lisa had biscuits and gravy which I really like, and you can't get just anywhere, but as you can see, I had a plate full already.Often, the purpose of traveling is to see the beauty of nature and architecture in an area, but I also like to see the beauty of the people who live in the area I am visiting. It only takes a short conversation to begin to notice how a person is different in the way he or she talks or the sayings or adages of the area but I usually find more things in common than differences. The commonalities open the door for a sense of universal kinship and in turn deeper love and appreciation for people.The clerks in stores, and waiters/waitresses who serve others, provide a touch of that connection but it is limited by everyone's time. It depends on serendipity (or the Holy Spirit) for connecting with people in the community. I had a few minutes to spare before Lisa was to arrive, so I sat in one of the rockers and proceeded to read an AT book on my iPhone kindle. I was just getting into the story when a weathered older gentleman wearing a hat and overalls comes out to finish his coffee, sits next to me and lights up a cigarette. I am glad I had the sense to put the book away and greet the man. I learned his name is Roy, who had retired from the railroad and spent his time working his farm. Noticing I was just passing through town on my long walk, he stated he had done some long walks too, such as walking from Jacksonville, FL to Chattanooga, TN on the railroad as part of his job. I also learned from Roy that the time to plant corn was when the dogwood was in full bloom. I opines it might be a bit early in my part of Kentucky so he asked, "are the dogwood in full bloom?" I couldn't say for sure but decided that they probably aren't. His planting time for frost sensitive vegetables is nearly the same as Lexington which is around May 10. The difference here in the mountains is that timing depends on how far up the ridge your garden is.Lisa and I talked about my goal of raising money to provide iPads for the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital pediatric oncology patients. Maybe that will be an idea for a project with her elementary school students who already do a project on the subject of the Appalachian trail that passes right through their town. We also talked about raising our children, our life's work, and for her, what made the Hot Springs home for her. It was interesting to discover that there is a chance we have a common ancestor on the Partin side of the family. When I get home I will have to give ancestry.com a visit.I crossed the French Broad River bridge and headed up river on the trail. I stopped occasionally to marvel at the might of the wide rushing river. The morning drizzle raised the humidity which in turn increased the effect of the temperature. It took a lot of sweating to climb the first 800 feet, but gradually throughout the day the breeze picked up. It was actually chilly by the time I arrived at camp. Psychologically more than physically I was prepared for the total climb of 3000 feet for the day.Since last week, the bluets have bloomed out as well as the dwarf created iris--a favorite of mine. Other things are blooming too. I will remember the Spring of 2014 as the year of the dogwood. I have been so impressed by all the dogwoods brightening the landscape as I travel around NC, TN and southern KY.I made the 11 miles today in just under 7 hours which would have been enough time to do 14 miles without major altitude gains. The climb followed the spine of a ridge for a while from which I could see and hear the river and trains on my right and cars on highway in the left hand valley. The distant views were unremarkable, but close up views of beauty along the trail kept me going.My second trail magic for the day was provided at the US 25 crossing by Queenie from the back of her Subaru. She offered me a banana and a blueberry bar. I asked where she lived and she mentioned a local NC town as one home and Irvine, KY as another home. She was struggling with how she might explain where Irvine is and I said, "You mean right outside of Beattyville?" She was so surprised and overjoyed to meet someone from those tiny towns in eastern Kentucky that she spontaneously reached out and hugged me. May God bless Queenie through her time in nature and in providing trail magic to hikers.I also met Tater along the way doing some section hiking today. He will also do some trail maintainence in the Smokies and the maybe I will meet him agin in New England when he does some section hiking there.The shelter was overflowing tonight so I will tent.