Date: 2012-04-09
From: Fontana Dam

To: Lazy River
Miles today: 0.0

So DO IT and I hit the buffet pretty hard last night. We didn't even shower first and while I haven't been hiking, I still worked up a serious sweat while canoing so I'm sure that was pretty rough for the other patrons. This resort place is wierd. Its in the middle of no where and caters to thru hikers, bikers, sports car drivers and fancy people in their easter outfits... Think bonets people. So we did a coin toss on zeroing here and well, we zeroed. The main logic is that once we get into the Smokys, we need to sleep at shelters or they ticket you. We mostly stealth camp so this will be a change for us. The first shelter is 12 miles so wanted to do our resupply and laundry before getting started.We picked up our stuff from the post office and were delighted to find that we wouldn't need to grocery shop ver much at all. Des had sent us all kinds of healthy stuff. She even included a tomatoe and avacado since we can never find anny fresh stuff. Mom also sent a package with DO ITs ipod in it. We did our laundry and sat on this giant porch outside of the general store. The porch filled up with thru hikers, listening to music, talking and airing out their camping gear. Some people stopped in for food and got right back out on the trail, I don't know how they do it! We saw a lot of the people we had been with before the canoe expedition so we knew we were right on track.When the laundry came out DO IT went back to the room to read. He's trying to finish all these books because he likes mailing them to people and writing messages inside. He thinks its scholarly or something. We sent one to our friend, Marilyn in Franklin (who makes awesome oatmeal raisen cookies btw). So I went down to the pool to float around and burn more in the sun. It was so freaking delightful!! Monday afternoon and I'm floating down a lazy river! I'm starting to wonder why people work at all!So eventually I drag myself back to the room to pack my stuff up and find DO IT looking at his "noise machine" confused. I offer to help but he's been trying to improve his tech skills so he wanted to do it alone. Unfortunately, he figures it out and he's all over the room singing and dancing. He pulls out the earphones and proclaims, "This is the BEST gift I ever got! Uh, except for, uh the birth of my children, yeah, except that". Whatever man, put the headphones back in. So now, where he used to complain that I was obsessed with collecting solar energy all day, he's adjusted the panels 6 times to get the most sun. Hmph.We split up for dinner since he wanted to read so he sat at a table for one and I sat at the bar. I met someone from the motorcycle demographic here and learned that this place is called the dragon's tail. It has 318 curves in 11 miles. (We should not have hitchhiked here!) Every year, 4 people die on their way here. Its some kind of accomplishment to drive on all the curves. I talked to him for a while which was interesting. He was my dads age and its just weird the connections you make with people on a thru hike are unlike anything you do in normal life. He was pretty interested in thru hiking because he read Bill Bryson's awful account of hiking. He has recently found himself unemployes and is. Just doing whatever he wants until the money runs out. He was even considering buying gear and hitting the trail after being emersed in trail culture all weekend. So I had some good food and Nantahala beerw and headed back to the room where I ate some giant easter bunnies mom sent and then felt sick and full. My bag is packed and we'll hit the trail in the morning!