Date: 2009-03-19
From: Dick's Creek Gap, Hiawassee, GA

To: Dick's Creek Gap, Hiawassee, GA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was my first Zero Day. A zero day is when you hike zero miles, or a day of rest. It was a busy day, catching up on the journal, getting a mail drop at the post office (food for next few days), washing clothes, etc.I have downloaded some photos. I will put a photo up in each journal page when I get a chance, but you can view them in the "photos" section on the left side of the web page any time. By "clicking on" a photo on the journal page, or by opening the photo section, you can read a better description of the photo that appears below the photo when opened ("clicked on").If you signed my guestbook, thanks. Instead of trying to reply to each by e-mail, I will try to respond right there in the guest book after your entry. This will be more efficient and I can already tell that time will be limited in towns with many things to do to get prepared for the next segment, while also keeping the journal up-to-date.I have been blessed to have started this adventure with some great people. I met Ian and Kendra on day one at Springer Mountain. We have hiked together for the entire time so far. They are from Eagle River, Wisconsin. They are an awesome couple and are two extremely pleasant people. My trip so far would not have been as enjoyable without them around. Ian is a big fellow and I have to give Kendra huge props for hiking with him all day. I wouldn't be able to keep up with him. I haven't seen him take a break on an uphill section yet. I take about 10!! She mentioned that they say you take 5 million steps on the Trail to Maine. She says she's taking 6 million while he's only taking 4 million....so the average works out!Daniel and Amanda are a couple from San Francisco. I met them early on also...maybe day 2 or 3. Daniel is a cool cat with a great sense of humor and just pleasant disposition. Amanda is very pleasant also and always has a smile on her face....and there is plenty out here trying to wipe the smile off your face!! They are a good pair, Daniel the "take-it-as-it-comes" type, and Amanda, "the planner"....good balance between the two.Chris from South Dakota is Amanda's brother and is just an all-around good dude with a great attitude. Strong dude, hauling a 60 pound pack to Maine!Goof is our group's youngest member at 19. He is from Southern California. It's going to be cool to watch him grow as a young man over the next 6 months. I've watched young men mature as aviators while training them in the B-52...watching them grow from un-sure kids to confident navigators. I saw some uneasiness in Goof early on, but I think he's going to come out of this journey assured that he can handle anything life throws at him.Fred (aka White Shoes, Chef, Legioneer, etc) is from Washington DC. Great senese of humor and always entertaining. He hikes really fast though, so I'm not sure how long he'll be able to hold back! We call him "White Shoes", because he wears white crocs in camp. He's called Chef because he used to be a catering chef and has all kinds of cooking ingredients with him. I missed where the legioneer name came from.Bert (aka Rusty) has been hiking with us for 3 or 4 days now. That man is a trooper. There have been some hard days of hiking but he's getting it done. Really nice guy. I asked him why he was doing the A.T.. He said he was tired of just sitting around and wanted to get out of the house!! That's getting out of the house all right.Having this good bunch of people around is great for morale. The chat and games help keep the mind off the aches and pains.Well, I'm sitting here right now typing this and am ready to be out hiking again! I will be on the trail again tomorrow between 9 and 10 am for a short hike of about 5 miles. It will probably be 4 or 5 days before my next update.NOTE on Hiawassee: I highly recommend the Hiawassee Inn...they really do take great care of hikers and are geared toward them. The Holiday Inn worked better for me because I have literally been on the computer for about 8 hours over the last 2 days updating this journal and catching up with family and friends (e-mail). They also have bikes to use which saved me a lot of effort and time this morning running to the photo developers and post office. They let me set up my tent in their parking lot to dry out....needed that bad! They also put hikers in rooms right next to the laundry since they know we'll be using it.....that was very nice.OK....enough rambling for now.....back to the Trail tomorrow!