Date: 2005-04-28
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Nolichucky River
Miles today: 6.4

I'm amazed at how accurate my internal clock is becoming. I wanted to wake up at 6 o'clock this morning to get into Erwin as early as possible. When I opened my eyes it was 5:59:37. It happens like that almost every day now, I know what time it is before I look at the clock.It's also amazing how a good nights sleep changes your attitude. Yesterday I was kind of down, I got really good sleep last night. I woke up today in great spirits. I got packed up. While I was packing, I accidentally knocked over the water I was going to make my cereal with. I just took the Froot Loops and figured I would eat them dry as I walked on the Trail. I started walking at about 6:50. JustBob was already way ahead of me, he started walking at 6:10. Immediately, I was puzzled because the landmarks were not matching what I was reading in my book. I finally realized I was not 11 miles from Erwin, I was only 6.4 miles away.At that point I got all excited, I scattered my Froot Loops in the woods, I took a big swig of my water and dumped the rest of it. I tried to lighten my load as much as possible, and just hauled ass and dropped in on the road to Erwin 25 yards from Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel at 8:50. Exactly 2 hours for 6.4 miles. I burned up the Trail today. Surprisingly, my knee was actually in good shape this morning. The swelling is there but the pain is 90% gone. I can feel it trying to come to the surface there, but maybe the best thing was for me to keep walking last night like I did. I was thinking I was going to have a rough time getting into Erwin, thought I was going to end up limping in but, that wasn't the case. It hurts when I sit down and stand up suddenly, I guess its the sudden jolts.I dropped down to the road by Uncle Johnny's and there on the porch was Au Pa, all clean shaven and looking like he had never been on the Trail before. Dashing clothes, looking like the typical Vermonter that he is. He had been leaving me notes for the past 3 or 4 days in the Trail Registers egging me on to try to catch him. The notes said that if I catch him before they left at noon today, that he would buy me pizza and beer. This was Au Ma and Au Pa's last stop. They are now off the Trail. He wanted to get together one last time. He took me to breakfast, Albert came along too. I had a HUGE everything omelette, the biggest I had ever seen, at the Elm Diner on Elm Street. Before we went to eat he took me to Miss Janet's because her place is very popular and it fills up fast. Sure enough, it was busy. I got in there just fast enough to ask her to put my name down, which she did. When I got back from breakfast, a bunch of hikers that were behind me were already there. Jersey, Bean Town, Seeker, RedWing and Hopeful, and a bunch of others I did not recognize.I showered and got all my laundry together and ran over to Food Line to get some Woolite. Regular detergent seems to wash away the waterproofing I put on my clothes. I found that out the hard way at Blueberry Patch Hostel. So now I make sure I wash in something more gentle. While I was there I stocked up on candy bars and lubricating eye drops. I don't think I've mentioned this, but ever since about the second day in the Smokies, something seems to be going on with my vision. I couldn't figure out if it was altitude, nutrition or the weather, but having had LASIK a year ago, my vision has been pretty good and suddenly, it's regressed to what I would estimate to be 20/100. I did notice the other day, when I was having to fight over the Bald in the biting cold wind and my eyes were tearing up that I could see clearer. So, maybe I'm just lacking lubrication and the high altitude and the dry air is just drying them out. I'll find out in the next day or two.I'm going to run back to Janet's after my laundry is done. Try to get my stuff packed up. Go to the library and get my journals uploaded. I might just take an easy day. I haven't really done that yet. I feel so good right now, with my knee, I feel like I can walk out in the morning. I'll make that decision later on in the day. I can afford to lose a day, I'm not on a schedule. The only thing I worry about is dropping out of shape so fast which I feel happens to me every time I take a zero day. I'm still thinking about the All You Can Eat in town. It would be nice to go by the Outfitter's that Janet is going to. My poor Gators are starting to fall apart, they have served me well over the 2,500 miles, but it's time to retire them and get new ones.That's it for now.