Date: 2005-10-19
From: Max Patch Summit, NC

To: Pigeon River, TN
Miles today: 14.5

14.5 miles todayDick and Charlene's homeNewport, TnPigeon River, Tn on the trail I cowboy camped on the summit of Max Patch last night. The wind stayed up all night. I woke up about 1am and turned my radio on to a classical station to drown out the noise of the wind and slept good after that. The earphones work good as earplugs along with giving me music to hide the sound of the wind. I woke up about 6am, but just layed there and watched the sky until first light. Then I got out my camera and took a few pictures. I put on my coffee and had a couple poptarts (yuk) and a breakfast bar. I think I'll stay with my fried pies for breakfast, but I couldn't find any in Hot Springs. I wasn't in any hurry to get moving, so I just layed there and enjoyed the morning. I was meeting a friend near I-40 at 3pm and that was only 14 miles away. I finally packed up and was walking at 8:05am. It was warmer out this morning than it was last night and I could feel more humidity in the air than I've had in a while. I didn't feel real energetic this morning, maybe because of the change in the weather back to more humid crap. :-))) It didn't take me long to get used to nice weather we had been having lately. I walked mostly downhill for about 6 miles. I didn't stop at Groundhog Creek Shelter because it was .2 miles off the trail. I started climbing Snowbird Mountain. That was a 1400 foot climb. Near the top, I stopped at Wildcat Spring because I needed water. I ended up drinking almost 2 litres while I sat there eating a snack and taking a break. From the summit of Snowbird Mountain it was about a 3000 foot down in the next 6 miles. There was a turkey that was about 25 yards in front of me when he saw me and he took off running and ended up flying away. I kept walking down the trail and in about 5 minutes he took off flying again from the top of a tree he had landed in. I wouldn't have seen him that time if he would have stayed still. I got down to Interstate 40 and crossed it by an underpass. I was about 1 hour and 45 minutes early, so I caught up on some emails and did a little journaling while I was waiting on my friend to show up. Dick showed up 20 minutes early. It was great seeing him again. We headed back towards his place on the other side of Newport and when he stopped for gas, I ran across the street and got a whopper, fries and a coke to hold me over until dinner. We got back to his house and after talking to him and his wife, Charlene for a while, I took a shower and washed my clothes. We went out to dinner and their 2 daughters and their husbands and an 18 year old grandson all came along. Their daughters didn't recognize me and I grew up around them. Dick owned the Schwinn bicycle shop and fixed my bikes from the time I was 6 years old. We had a very good meal at a place that had cloth napkins. I like eating at places with cloth napkins. :-))) When we got back after dinner, we talked until about 10:30 before I needed to get to bed. I'll be entering the Smoky Mountains tomorrow whenever Dick gets me back to the trail tomorrow, so it will be a few days before I can update my journal again. I had a good day in that leaf catching game that I'm NOT playing this year. I'm up to 19!! They were falling pretty good again...not that I was paying any attention to that.