Date: 2003-06-13
From: Erwin Holiday Inn Express

To: Erwin Holiday Inn Express
Miles today: 0.0

It feels so good to wake up and know it¢s a rest day! Nice to sleep in a real bed ¢ only my third in 29 days! Great not to have to cook or wash up my dishes or pack up my stuff. However, I felt positively claustrophobic having to sleep in a room where no windows opened, and the constant noise of the AC nearly drove me batty till I surrendered and put in my earplugs. Great continental breakfast, though!We ran some errands, had lunch at Wendy¢s and stopped by Miss Janet¢s to see the place. She wasn¢t there, I would have liked to have met and talked with her. I¢m sure if we had gone straight there from the Trail it would have been awesome; as it was, in light of the Holiday Inn Express, it seemed kind of like a disorganized frat house. I still feel kind of sorry I¢m not experiencing the stay there, because of the great reports I¢ve heard of her and her cooking!Later . . . I¢m waiting for my good buddies Matt and Steve to arrive. I called them this morning to say hi and Matt says, ¢You want some company?¢ I was so excited!Jo, Anne, and Hal just left to pick up Toby (he and Ben moved to Miss Janet¢s today) to go for dinner, I¢ll meet up with them when the guys get here.I forgot to mention that Hal rented a car today. As we drove away from the Enterprise place, Anne says, ¢I feel the Trail Experience slowly slipping away . . . ¢I responded, ¢I¢d feel that way too if only the smell would go away!¢ Someone¢s clothes or shoes or something were still infused with ¢hiker funk¢ and contaminating the air space.It is starting to hit me that parting may be more imminent than previously supposed. I¢m not sure what to do about my leg. The gang plans to slack pack toward the Spivey Gap to Nolichucky River section we skipped yesterday, and then move on from here Sunday. IF my leg is ready to hike Sunday I¢d be starting at Spivey Gap. My heart is kind of torn into pieces just now. I hate to be separated from my newfound Trail Family!I have some options: Jo suggested skipping the section they¢re doing tomorrow and coming back after the end, since it¢s fairly local to Chattanooga (3-4 hours) and returning to complete it after Katahdin in the fall.If my leg is no better, Hal suggested hanging out here until they reach Damascus, getting a ride there and then riding with them up to my parents!Or I suppose I could go back to Chattanooga with Matt and Steve after this weekend ¢ but my car is in Maryland!Well God, I have asked You to make it clear to me Your will ¢ to stay on the Trail or not? Is this injury a sign to get off and go home or merely an obstacle to be surmounted? Have my new Trail friends and I served the purpose in each other¢s lives we were meant to serve and the time is right to part ways? I trust You to make it clear to me what to do.Later . . . It was great to see Steve and Matt walking up. I ran out to the front of the hotel and hugged both of their necks. It feels so happy to see people I ¢know¢ after mostly new faces over and over for 30 days. We caught up, mostly me chattering non-stop with funny Trail stories while we drove around a little and then sat in the hot tub. Then I got serious.¢I¢m glad you guys came I kind of needed a pep-talk.¢ I said.¢A pep-talk!¢ They echoed and looked dumbfounded. ¢You¢ve walked 200 miles!¢ (I guess my journal is off in the mileage calculations . . . )¢200?¢ I said, ¢I¢ve walked over 300!¢ And making that simple correction helped a little bit.¢We envy you every day you¢re out here,¢ Matt said.I confessed my injured status and we brainstormed a little on my options. Got to bed very late, of course . . .