Date: 2015-03-09
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we started late again, since Mikayla had a bit of a sleep in. I woke up super early because my tent was predictably flooding. Fortunately my quilt stayed mostly dry this time. My tent was also sagging a lot. I think I should stay in shelters on known wet nights from now on- though that will be the next few nights. Maybe I'll finally see some wildlife (mice).We soon caught up with everyone from the camp and passed them with a fierce pace to get to camp asap. Mikayla couldn't see today, but she still led the way most of the time and did well. But both of us were suffering today. I noticed today that my feet now have 5 blisters instead of the 2 that I had on Friday. My feet are falling apart. My legs ache so much. My back still hurts and my hips too. Mikayla and I are playing a fun game of "find the blisters". We practically raced through the rain, drizzle, endless fog down to the road that would take us into town. We didn't even stop for lunch. By the end I was limping because I pulled a calf muscle but it seems to have worked itself out now. After, we made our way to the Top of Georgia hostel to pick up Mikaylas parcels. It was a little like Christmas watching her open them. Afterwards, she got a pack shakedown by 'Miss America' at the hostel. The hostel was very generous and gave us water and popsicles. We also caught up with Smasher (aka James). It was great to see him again! It turns out that for the past few days, he's been in the shelter ahead of us. After that, the hostel kindly dropped us into town at the Budget Inn, where we found out that there were no rooms... Except there was one left! A room with two beds, but one was broken. The TV and blinds were also broken. The bathroom was a suite straight from 1975 (but it had a hot shower!). We also didn't have a mini fridge that the other rooms have. The room was $20 though, so it wasn't so bad. Plus all out hiking buddies from last night were already here! With Tortoise and Hare getting lucky with the honeymoon suite (it has a jacuzzi). We tried to wash and sort our hiking stuff. I showered almost immediately. It was glorious. After dressing and drying and hanging all my wet clothes, I went to the local supermarket whilst Mikayla went to the post office. Walking around the supermarket was an experience in itself. It's not surprising at all that so many Americans are overweight when most of their foods have peanut butter in them. There was a 'wings' section in the salad bar, and a pic'n'mix in with the fruit. I resupplied for 5 days, picking up some olives, bananas and a root beer to have tonight. Then I waited with Mikayla for Greywolf and Long stride, who had all turned up whilst I was inside. We bought the goodies back to our rooms, rested for 10 mins and then joined with Tortoise and Hare to go find the steak house buffet. It was a very southern place- the walls were decorated with things like "say grace" and loads of photos of Gone with the Wind. The food was okay, I wouldn't go there again though. I mostly enjoyed the chocolate pudding for dessert. Then, back to the hotel room to get ready for bed. Hoping my blisters magically recover for the 11 miles we have to do cover tomorrow, rain or shine. We've said goodbye to Tortoise and Hare who are taking a zero day in their honeymoon suite. Greywolf may stay another day depending on the weather. I really hope it's not as bad as predicted.I know that I've been complaining a lot in these updates, but I'm still carrying on and doing the best I can. It's rough going and sometimes feels so slow, but I don't ever think that I need to leave the trail. I don't regret coming here yet for a single second. No huge mistakes here, it's just been all incredible so far. Hard, but not so hard that I can't walk through it, eventually.