Date: 2014-04-14
From: NOC

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We have been doing a lot of things on this trip that would make most people a little uneasy. Taking food out of a hiker box, hitch hiking into town, hiking at night, and last night was one more first. Spirit, Lumberjack, and I slept on the porch of an empty store. It was flat, we were out of the wind, and we were protected from any possible rain. What more could you want on the AT? I had mentioned in an earlier post that I would be doing a lot of things for the first time while on this hike. You just have to be able to think differently and move out of your comfort zone. We walked around the complex and waited for the General Store to open in order to get a room. At 9:00 when they open we find out that the person in charge of rooms doesn't come in until 10:00. We had a nice breakfast at the restaurant while we waited. Eventually we got a room with bunk beds for two nights. Most people are planning on leaving tomorrow but they are talking about rain and temps in the 20's Tuesday night. We have a heater in our room and we won't be soaking wet from hiking uphill before we go to bed. Easy choice! We did laundry and took our stuff up to the bunkhouse. There are several buildings on top of the hill with one building being a kitchen/dining area above and restrooms and showers below for everyone to share. We killed some time in the outfitters store and watched people hiking down in the rain. It will be a 2014 hikers reunion today. We have ran into Dustin, Kevin, Zimba, Grizzzelle, Dancing Feather, Chris, Meri, Fletch, Bama, Iron Cheeks, Dale Earnhart, Safety First, Wonder Bus,and Lucky Moose. We have been really lucky missing the bad weather, sometimes you just have to live to fight another day. We decided to fix ourselves lunch in the kitchen to save money and get rid of some of the food in our pack. We met Loverboy, Belch, and Alpine Pirate (Austria) up there. I took some pictures of people practicing their whitewater kayaking skills in the Nantahala River. We have a mix of hikers and river rats around here that makes for some interesting conversations. We were invited to eat dinner with the family from Quebec that are thru hiking and Redhawk and Blood Root. We had a dining room to ourselves and we had a nice time telling our stories. The three kids are having a great time and they are no strangers to hiking. They all had to kid me about Lumberjack and I missing Trail Magic at Wayah Bald. I have been talking about getting a free cheeseburger at every road and parking lot from Trail Angels but it hasn't happened yet. We missed by a couple of hours that day. We also talked to Lucky Moose, Zimba, Snailman, and Alpine Pirate that were eating there. Meeting and getting to know people from different countries has been great. I also talked to SOG (shades of Grey) again, we are both government employees that retired in January and are having trouble getting are full pensions. Later that evening we joined Grizzzelle and Dancing Feather down by the river where a large group had a bonfire going. We visited for awhile but they were mostly a younger crowd so we left to go to bed. We did meet Dance Party (Atlanta) and talked to him for awhile before we left. Best of luck to all hikers leaving tomorrow, we are all wanting to make it to Maine. Mailman