morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2002-11-06
To: Saxby and the Watershed - Atlanta
Miles today: 0.0

AtlantaMonday, November 4th through Wednesday November 6thSaxby and the WatershedMy best friend was in Atlanta on business, so I got to stay with her at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. You know, the fancy hotel on Peachtree St., at Peachtree Center, near Peachtree Park, cross street Peachtree. It was a very nice hotel, but I learned that it costs just as much to stay at a fancy hotel for free as at a dumpy hotel at the regular price, once you pay for parking and order room service (and how can you not order room service?). I highly recommend the fried apple fritter thing at the Marquis. It was so good we had to yell out. Saxby Chambliss is a new senator from Georgia. Saxby Chambliss, Saxby quick. Sax jump over the candlestick. Do not try to use the computers at the public library in Decatur, Georgia. According to the library employees, those computers are paid for with taxpayer dollars and for use only by taxpaying county residents, not wacky troubadours who breeze in with the wrong accent and hair that lies closer to the scalp than to God. I thanked them kindly for letting my foreign feet use their taxpayer-funded sidewalks and streets and spent $40 at Kinko¢s using the Internet. Thanks Decatur. I used to love you. (Just a note: when representing the thru-hiker community in towns along the Trail, I believe we are supposed to roll over and ask for more in this kind of situation in lieu of taking the offender to task. In this case, I was representing only myself.)   On Tuesday, I visited the Carter Center and learned all about Jimmy Carter and peanuts and watched a video on the presidency. I watched it twice, but the first time didn¢t count because I fell asleep. They had a great exhibit going on called ¢American Originals¢, which included the Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed by Bonaparte in 1803 and an order to US Marshalls to arrest Susan B. Anthony for trying to vote back in 1872. Susan B., taking one for the team.   Tuesday night, we had dinner at the Watershed, a restaurant owned by the redheaded Indigo Girl. I got to eat pimento-cheese (which is apparently not a widely-known dish outside the South) and a plate full of assorted fried vegetables. I was as happy as a pig in mud.
Date: 2002-11-10
To: Area Man Accosted by Train Angel
Miles today: 0.0

Area Man Accosted by Self-Described Trail AngelNovember 10th, 2002Area man, Tom Sanders, was crossing a road near Indian Gap, in the midst of a two week hike on the Appalachian Trail from Fontana Dam to Springer Mountain, when he was accosted by unwelcome offers of assistance from Diana Price, a wannabe Trail Angel, who was apparently laying in wait for him at the road crossing. After attempting repeatedly to thwart offers of help, Tom, weary from travel, gave in and allowed Diana to drive him two miles down the road to the Indian Gsp campground, where he planned to spend the night. ¢It was only 1:00pm¢, Tom later said, ¢I had 5 hours of daylight to hike those 2 miles to the campground, but she insisted that I ride in the back of her truck. I could have gotten hypothermia riding back there.¢ Upon arriving at the campground, Tom tried to part ways graciously but was forced to have his picture taken beside Diana¢s truck and take some extra food from Diana¢s cache, even though he insisted that he already had too much food. ¢She gave me bags of Minute Rice. What am I supposed to do with those? I guess I¢ll ditch them at the campground. I¢m going to be much more wary of strangers from now on.¢
Date: 2002-11-13
To: A Walk in Pigeon Forge
Miles today: 0.0

A Walk in Pigeon Forge Wednesday, November 13th If you¢ve read Bill Bryson¢s A Walk in the Woods, you probably remember his brutal descriptions of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Well, I was raised in this area, and I have to tell you that Bryson¢s description was pretty accurate. A significant cause of the hideous appearance of Pigeon Forge is the lack of billboard control. Billboards really junk up the place from Interstate 40 to the beginning of Gatlinburg.   My favorite abhorrent attraction has always been Bunnyland Golf. I¢ve never been, but it is a miniature golf course that boasts live bunnies on the course. Someone call PETA. Pigeon Forge, however, does have one bright shining star. Dollywood, Dolly Parton¢s theme park in the middle of town, is a fabulous place. I worked there for a few years during my college days, including a stint as concert photographer and a summer answering the phone when you dialed 1-800-DOLLYWOOD. While I can¢t recommend working there, I do recommend a visit if you are a Dolly Parton fan. Dollywood was known as Silver Dollar City up until the mid-1980s, a turn-of-the-century theme park with a heavy emphasis on crafts and music. I believe that there is still a Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. Dolly bought 50% of the theme park and added many touches of her own, but there is still a great emphasis on crafts, with workshops on such things as woodcarving, blacksmithing, and dulcimer making.   Dolly also does a series of concerts every April, and proceeds are donated to the local community through the Dollywood Foundation, funding books for children, the local medical clinic, scholarships for county high school students, and the list goes on and on. Dolly rocks.
Date: 2002-11-13
To: Mt. LeConte and the Country Bear Jamboree
Miles today: 0.0

Mt. LeConte3600¢ elevation gain12 milesWednesday, November 13th Mt. LeConte and the Country Bear JamboreeOn Wednesday, I went for a hike up Mount LeConte in the Smoky Mountains. I got a late start but lucked out by coming across a very cool woman, Laura, hiking up the same trail taking pictures. We hiked, chatted, and took pictures together for a couple of hours, then stopped at a 90¢ waterfall for lunch. I continued on up the trail towards Mt. LeConte. It was extremely cold at the top, and I had to put on both pairs of gloves and my rain pants to keep warm. The trail was a rocky, muddy stream most of he way due to the recent heavy rains. At the 6-mile mark, I had to turn around, a half mile from the top, because I was running out of time. The new trekking poles saved me from falling several times and helped both Laura and I across the streams. I turned around too late, because night fell when I was still about 20 minutes from my truck. It was my very first hike in the dark by myself. I saw 14 bears in those 20 minutes. They all turned out to be tree stumps as I got closer, but the fear was real.
Date: 2002-11-14
To: June Bug versus Hurricane - Knoxville 
Miles today: 0.0

KnoxvilleSunday November 10th through Friday November 15thJune Bug versus TornadoOn Sunday, I spent a lazy morning on the porch catching up with Jodie, then took a leisurely drive through northern Georgia to Tennessee, looking at places I might stay along the trail, including the Blueberry Patch near Dicks Creek Gap, Rainbow Springs Campground near Wallace Gap, Standing Indian Campground, and the Fontana Dam Hilton. Unfortunately, I forgot how long and winding the road is from Fontana Dam to Knoxville, and I managed to hit that stretch just as the tornadoes descended upon eastern Tennessee. I missed the tornadoes, but I drove in a healthy dose of lightning and wind for a couple of hours. I made it to my friends¢ house in Knoxville just in time to watch the storm coverage on television. On Monday, I went to the Veteran¢s Day Parade in downtown Knoxville. I hadn¢t cried in hours, so it was a nice experience. Afterwards, I went to a coffee shop for a latt©, where small children and an old man made fun of me.   It was good to be home again. If you want to get a taste of Southern humor, I highly recommend the book Up This Hill and Down: Thoughts on Life from the Southern Appalachians, by Lee Ann Woods, a commentator on the NPR station in Asheville, NC. I read this book last year while living in California, and it made me homesick. I also got to spend some time with my friend Daniel, who works behind the scenes on the cable show Trading Spaces. I got the scoop on the whole cast.
Date: 2002-11-19
To: Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom
Miles today: 0.0

Mutual of Omaha¢s Wild KingdomTuesday, November 19thThis journey has been made possible by: A grant from myself.   Parents on paperwork and bill payments and ¢call this ranger if you haven¢t heard from me in 2 days¢ and such.Friends with couches: Debs, Jodie, Roberta, Pam, Ruth Ann, Sandy, Maria, Katie, Kathi, Kaz, Melissa, and Mindy. Pets who have hated me along the way and had no choice in my company: Clyde, Poo-Two, and Ashley.Internet Support Team: Ed, Russell, Don, and Ellis. Guestbook Signers and Emailers: It is so nice to hear from people and know that someone out there is reading what I write ¢ thanks to everyone who lets me know.
Date: 2002-11-20
To: Loretta Lynn and the Baptism
Miles today: 0.0

Washington, DCFriday, November 15th through Thursday, November 21stLoretta Lynn and the BaptismI left Knoxville early Friday morning and drove to Washington, DC in time to meet my old law school buddies downtown for the Loretta Lynn concert at the 9:30 Club. One friend, Teri, was running late, so we left her ticket at will call. When she showed up, the snot-nosed kid at will call was having trouble finding her ticket and asked her where I had bought it. Teri said, ¢I don¢t know, she lives in a red truck; she could have bought it anywhere¢. We all thought that was great and worthy of a song, so Teri and I pulled out the guitars a couple of days later and started work on the red truck song. I know, I thought Loretta Lynn was dead, too, but she¢s alive and kicking and looking good. She puts on a great show and is an excellent storyteller. Unfortunately, during a patriotic number, one of the back up singers decided that he needed to tell the audience that ¢it was time to put prayer back in schools, bibles back in the classrooms, and the ten commandments back in the courtrooms¢. Political and religious views aside, this is really a risky statement to make in a town with 30,000 lawyers who understand the legal concept of the separation of church and state. There was an audible collective gasp, and the warm patriotic feeling that had filled the room dissipated quickly. It was too bad, but at least Loretta didn¢t say it. On Sunday, my godbaby Katie was baptized and had her first birthday party. We got her an emergency truck with lots of sirens and noises and such, and we all had a great time playing with it. I spent Monday with the baby, and Tuesday and Wednesday have been sick days. Tomorrow I begin the return trip of the Sabbatical Tour. Part II begins.
Date: 2002-11-28
To: Skyline Drive and the Indigo Girls
Miles today: 0.0

Sabbatical Road Trip Part II ¢ Take IAtlanta ¢ November 22nd through November 28thSo, where was I? I left Washington, DC at the crack of noon on Thursday and drove through the cold fog of Skyline Drive for several hours.   I was amazed by the views I imagined under the thick layer of fog. I did see more deer on Skyline Drive than roadkill in Texas, which is quite a bit, if you recall. The deer are also very friendly, so I got some nice pictures. The fog was actually beautiful, but not so translatable to film. I¢m looking forward to hiking this route come spring. As I continued on at 20mph to the nearest possible exit off the Drive, I noticed that I couldn¢t hear my beautiful voice singing harmony to my favorite Suzi Quatro CD (for those not in the know, Suzi Quatro is the queen of punk ¢ way before Joan Jett ¢ and also played Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days ¢ not Pinky, but her little sister Leather, who was in the band with Richie, Ralph, and Potsie). I turned down the CD player and realized I had no voice whatsoever. And so began 5 days of total laryngitis and feeling horrible, followed swiftly by 2 weeks of sounding like Suzanne Pleshette (actually more like Brenda Vacarro, but I love Suzanne) and feeling just icky. But I am a trooper, and I really have no home to speak of, so after an evening spent in an unclean hotel in Charlotte, I soldiered on to Atlanta to my favorite live music spot, Eddie¢s Attic in Decatur, to see the double billing of Mrs. Fun (jazz fusion with only keyboards and drum) and Gerard McHugh and the Crafties (funny guy and his band). Both bands were great, the bartenders kept me in hot tea after much sign language and napkin notes, and the Indigo Girls showed up impromptu and played a full set. That's right, the INDIGO GIRLS! You can¢t get better than that! On Saturday, friends from Ellijay and Knoxville met me at Eddie¢s Attic to see the hot new band, Sugarland, comprised of Kristen Hall, Jennifer Nettles, and other high caliber musicians from Atlanta. It was awesome. And the best line of the evening goes to Jules, my friend from high school who traveled down from Knoxville for the show. I was asking her about various people we went to school with (with whom we went to school ¢ whatever), and she said ¢I usually run into Dawg and Vernon down at the Tomato Festival every year¢. I was speechless with admiration. That same evening, she also said: "It's hotter in here than two rats wrestling in a wool sock." I couldn't decide which statement I liked the best, so they both made the journal.
Date: 2002-12-05
To: Wish That I Was on Ole' Rocky Top
Miles today: 0.0

Wish that I Was on Ole¢ Rocky TopNovember 30th through December 5thDistance: 11 milesElevation: 4200'I drove from Atlanta to Knoxville and, after a few restful days, I headed to Gatlinburg to tackle the Smokies. I stopped in to see my friend Judy, who was my boss when I worked at Dollywood way back in the day. Wow, it was good to see her again. I was planning some luxurious day hiking and checked into one of the 18 Best Westerns to set up coughing/hiking headquarters. First on my list ¢ Mt. LeConte. It beat me last time; revenge shall be sweet. Or at least adventurous. I chose the most difficult route to the top of the mountain ¢ Alum Cave trail, 10 miles, with ropes at strategic points to assist the hiker over landslide areas. Next day, I get to the Alum Cave trailhead at the crack of 10:00am. I tend to sleep late with cough medicine. But I¢m not worried about night falling because I¢ve got my trusty headlamp. I¢ve done night hiking in thick fog in the middle of a war zone and forest fire. No problem. I head up the mountain. Eighty year old men (I asked their ages) are passing me. Overweight tourists dressed in cotton are passing me. I am slow. Hiking alone is easier because I don¢t realize how slow I am. I keep going. Slowly, I pass the others again on their way down. They are surprised to learn that I intend to make it to the top that day. I smile and mutter hopeful ¢aw shucks¢ statements with the patience of Job. I think mean things about these people as I continue to climb. It has snowed and rain recently in the Smokies. Giant icicles are falling from the edges of the huge caves onto the trail with great resonating booms. Hiking involves darting from one icicles free zone to another. I am freezing in my balaclava and gloves. The occasional patches of ice are taking over the trail. For the first time, I really understand the need for crampons. I slide and recover, slide and fall. The ropes along the trail are necessary. I finally make it and stand on the top of the world. I am invincible. But it's 3:00pm on a winter's day. Time is running out. I head back down into the valley as fast as I can. I fall 7 times on the ice. The sun sets behind the mountains. Two miles from the trailhead, I stop inside the caves to get out my headlamp. I can¢t find it. I look again. It¢s not there. Dark is falling fast. I start running. I keep running. Into the gloaming, past couples with flashlights heading up to the caves. I am thankful that I learned how to run on trails in southern California. I lose sight of the trail only a few minutes from the trailhead and feel my way back to the red truck. That evening, the Great Ice Storm of December 2002 hits the East Coast. I am stuck in Gatlinburg. ¢I ain¢t homeless if I ain¢t truckless¢
Date: 2002-12-08
To: North Carolina: Not as Bad as You'd Think
Miles today: 0.0

North Carolina: Not as Bad as You¢d ThinkDecember 5th through December 8thDistance: 10 milesElevation: Absolutely noneA day or two after the Great Ice Storm of December 2002, during which I coughed and watched bad TV at the Best Western, I headed to Asheville, NC to visit my friends Lee Ann and Pat and their boys. They actually live in Arden, NC, which is less a town than a state of mind. I had a great time there. We sat in the hot tub; played guitar; the boys read me clever poems they had written, sang me songs, and tried to explain Transformers/Megatrons to me; and we went to the Grey Eagle Tavern to see Kristen Hall and Todd Snider play. I also got to see Lee Ann¢s little brother David, who works at an Arboretum near Asheville. Lee Ann wrote a wonderful, clever book called ¢Up This Hill and Down¢, a collection of the commentaries she does for the local NPR station in Spindale, NC, including some about her upbringing in our hometown of Rutledge, Tennessee.
Date: 2002-12-28
To: Kristen Hall and the Girls n' Grits Party
Miles today: 0.0

Kristen Hall and the Girls n' Grits PartyAfter Asheville, I headed east again, following rumours of a Girls n¢ Grits party being thrown by my friends in Washington, DC. I stopped in Charlotte, saw Kristen Hall play again (boy, she¢s great), stopped in Cary, NC to see Danielle Howle and Laura Blackley play, and drove all night, arriving in Takoma Park, MD (a suburb of DC) just in time to sleep a few hours before the guests started arriving. The Girls were from all over the US, and the Grits were imported from South Carolina. I saw about 30 people I knew from my law school days, then crashed and burned. Worn out from hiking, coughing, and driving, I suspended the road trip and settled myself on a couch in front of Satellite TV through the holidays. I spent most of my time watching TV, playing guitar, writing songs, playing with the godbaby, burning CDs, and intending to update my journal. I also spent a few days in Colonial Beach, VA (which is situated right on the Potomac River, dangerously close to Fredericksburg, VA, at my friends' vacation home. It was a nice quiet retreat during which I read a couple of books instead of updating my journal. I did manage to peel myself from the couch for a pleasant 10 mile hike around the spit.
Date: 2002-12-30
To: Trading Spaces in Knoxville - Again
Miles today: 0.0

Sabbatical Road Trip Tour ¢ Part II, Take IIDecember 28th through December 30thSo I leave DC again. This time I mean to make it back to California. I drive straight through to Knoxville for a couple of days, spend time with my friends Jaime and Carla, some of the funniest people I know, and stay with my old friend Daniel, who is the ¢behind the scenes¢ fabric guy on Trading Spaces. That¢s right, the homeowners on Trading Spaces do not do all of that work. Daniel does the sewing. I got to see a prep packet for a show they are filming in January, and I got the scoop on the cast. I¢ll never tell.
Date: 2003-03-22
To: 60 miles N of Roanoke, VA.
Miles today: 0.0

It's there, you know...   "The Trail"It's always there. The memory of it, lurking always in the background. Calling to me.I remember the place at which I stopped hiking. It's a little park with picnic tables there along side VA. hwy. 60. I took a long look at the spot where "The Trail" crosses the road. I knew at the time that I'd be back, but I didn't know when.Something else I didn't know was that the next white blaze, the one I'd yet to pass, would haunt my thoughts, my memories.It would call to me across the miles, across the years...it beckons still.Hammok Hanger wrote that she was "obsessed" with The Trail. She has tried several times to finish her hike..just bad luck mostly..mostly.Once upon Mt. Rogers, I asked a couple of trail angels who had thru hiked in '99, how The Trail had affected their lives. They were just kids and she looked at me and told me that they both thought about their thru hike every day since then. She said it with a wistful, faraway look on her face, like the memory of a lost love.Obsessed? Perhaps...Perhaps it's something deeper.I think The Trail changed them. It changed them at a fundamental level. It made them different than they would have been. Every day I see the next blaze, waiting, whispering, calling to be passed. Waiting to take it's place among the memories of things done...but not quite yet.I've cleared my calendar. This takes a major dedication of time and effort, five months this time.Sweat. I remember sweat. I remember telling people that I had spend 127 days out on The Trail in '01, and only about 5 or 6 of them were easy. Mostly, I remember sweating, grinding out the ups and downs, up and down, only to hike up and even farther down.Anyone with half a brain would be happy to be rescued from that kind of torture.I can't wait to get back.I miss it. I miss the mice, the bears, the heat. I miss the cold and the rain and the fog and the mud. I miss the snoring and the cheap motels. I miss the roar of the "Dragonflys" and the smoke from the fire rings. I miss the clean, sharp taste of cold artesian water, straight from the earth, and the melody of a waterfall cascading down a cliff-face that you have to hike past. You try to fix the sight in your memory forever 'cause you know that you won't be back this way again, and if you are, this place will be different and you will be different too. So you, and each hiker like you, tries to fix the scene in your mind for the treasure it is...an instant caught in a moment's memory.That hill fades into another, and another. The next day, and the next, will bring what seems like an unending succession of hills, and knobs and gaps.It's torture, I tell you...I'm going to enjoy every minute of it...every foot...every memory...Texas Jack's hike is about to be continued...60 miles north of Roanoke, VA. and just south of a feature called "The Priest". In a picnic spot along side of hwy. 60, a white blaze waits...
Date: 2003-04-03
From: Dallas, TX

To: 60 miles N of Roanoke, VA.
Miles today: 0.0

Everything taken care of, goodbys said. Neighbor Milton just shakes his head. "Only way you could get me to do that would be at the point of a gun" he tells me. We laugh, shake hands, and finally, I am off. On the road again heading east on I-30 and I-40 to meet Stump and her husband, Jake, who have offered (kindly) to help me out if I ever get there. In Texas, spring is well along, but in Tennessee everything is just blooming. I hurry past the purple-pinks of the redbuds, the orange-red of the hickory, the rusty-orange of the shag-bark hickory. The creamy-green of the dogwoods and the pink-white of the wild plums all seem to greet me and nod approval as I drive east to meet the Trail again. I finally stop at a motel at 9:30 pm. "Singles $26.50" the neon sign flashes. By the time the paperwork is filled out, it's up to $31.00. I pay in cash and ask for a lst floor room. "$8.00 more for first floor" he says (the motel has hardly any cars and by now it's 10:00 pm.) "I can go somewhere else" I tell him and hold out my hand to get the money back. "OK" he says, "$5.00". I say nothing and my hand is still waiting. He thinks for a second and hands me a key to room 117. "Thank you" I say nicely, knowing that the cash I paid him will never make it to the days receipts. I smile for a small victory.