Date: 2008-05-31
From: Curly Maple Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We crawled out of bed with the slightest hint of the sunrise. We had a post office deadline. Just as I adjusted the last strap of my pack the sky opened up with torrential rain. It was unbelievable! Rain again! We all pulled back under the shelter and watched, waited, hoped and prayed that it was just a quick shower. It was. Fifteen minutes later we were headed to Erwin.The downhill was fairly gentle and a nice walk into town. Until just as we were entering town and the trail for some reason had to make this climb way up on a ridgeline and back down again. Didn't make much sense, but we stayed with the trail.We arrived at Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel about 9:00 AM. We were able to get a cabin for four with a frig and microwave. Very homey. We inquired about getting a ride into town to pick up our boxes at the post office and were told we could go anytime. However, we learned they also have bicycles for riding into town.All who know me well know that bicycles are not my favorite thing. Tigger tried to sell us on the idea of riding the bikes into town by saying it would be good for our knees. I don't know where she comes up with these things! We took the bikes into town anyway.Erwin actually has a nice bike path. It just doesn't come all the way out to Uncle Johnny's. So we did a little extra riding on our way into town just trying to find where it starts. But we finally located it and it turned out to be a lovely path.We carried our empty backpacks with us on the bikes. Then when we arrived at the PO we emptied everything out of our boxes into our packs. We even cut the boxes and folded them down so we could reuse them for bouncing on. We're getting smarter at this all the time.With the packs full we made a beeline across the street to Sonic. I'm surprised I was able to hold Owl back that long. Sonic is one of her favorite places. They do make a pretty good burger and very good onion rings. She's usually going for that Strawberry Cream Slush.All filled up...both our packs and our stomachs, we headed back to Uncle Johnny's. As is always the case, the return trip was just slightly more uphill and the wind was blowing strong against us...and our full packs. I have to say though, I was proud of myself. Whenever I had to peddle hard uphill, my newly developed hiker leg muscles kicked right in and I had no problem making it. That's new for me on a bike.Back at the hostel we had all afternoon to do our usual regrouping...laundry, sorting food for the next section, studying maps. I always end up spending an hour or so updating our homeschool journal and doing school work. Owl recharged her iPod. By 3 PM we were done...and very impressed with ourselves.We had until 6:30 to wait for the dinner shuttle into town. We sat around reading and relaxing. The cabins are laid out in a square shape with a courtyard in the middle. Another hiker had two young black puppies in the yard. We let Roo loose to play with them. Since it was an enclosed area and none of the other hikers minded I was able to let her run free to play. She had a blast. She seemed to understand they were puppies and she had to be gentle with them. She didn't understand that when they started fighting with each other she didn't need to stick her nose in between them. Live and learn. She did have a wonderful afternoon and is now wiped out.At 6:30 we took the shuttle in and ate at a pretty good Mexican place. Then we did a small grocery run. There is a grill at the hostel so we're going to grill some ribs for dinner tomorrow.Our plan for tommorrow is to do a short slackpack day rather than taking a full zero. We're feeling pretty strong, even with a four mile hike and a bike ride today.So we started the day off with a torrential downpour, but it turned out to be a very good day.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9