Date: 2004-03-17
From: Cody Gap tent site

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: broken clouds

Subj:        Journal 17 Date:        3/18/2004 10:50:30 AM Eastern Standard TimeFrom:        lopaka@pocketmail.comTo:        mizcahill@aol.comSent from the Internet (Details)From: Cody Gap Tent Site To: NC 28 Fontana DamDistance: 8.8 milesTotal AT Distance: 161.7Date: 3/17After Kinloch learned the Post Office closed at 12:30 PM, I sent him off on a mission--get there before 12:30 and get our four packages. Off he went! Off I went at a much slower pace. (Kinloch¢s the 2.25 marathoner).He got all four boxes including a great resupply package from Mountain America Jerky Company, Denver, Colorado. The owner, Chuck, has been providing us a tremendous variety of his jerky. He will send supplies directly to our mail drops. Great stuff for lunch and dinner, thanks Chuck!Hours later, I descended into Fontana, at the same spot we (Jeannie and I) stood eight years ago trying to get a cell phone signal to call for a hotel pickup. Along comes Kinloch with the Hiker Inn owner, looking for me. Great timing since I was heading to the closed Park Headquarters.And, stranger still, the Hiker Inn, formerly the Fontana Inn, was the same place my wife and I stayed eight years earlier. We were even given the same room. Nancy and Jeff Hoch, the owners, for the past 12 years are most gracious hosts!Now they cater to hikers and do a GREAT job taking care of us. Free pick up, dropoff, trips to town for dinner and supplies. And, while at the hotel, we met two SOUTH bound hikers who started last February! They only have 160 miles to go! You should have heard their stories of winter hiking with snowshoes and crampons! The smaller of the two, maybe 135 pounds, while at dinner, had six courses of food and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. While driving back, he finished off half a pizza someone had left at the hotel, and then scarfed off about six beers! And that's only what I saw him eat!Well, a group of us talked into the night. Questions flowed. When we asked them if they ever thought of quitting--we got the first true answer I really thought I have heard--"Almost every day!" But they didn't; they slugged on grasping for such small motivations as a ray of sunshine, a mountain view, a call to home. Not large, mind changing events, just small nuggets of inspiration, relief, taken one at a time, sometimes lasting only a brief moment. Enough to keep them moving forward and forgetting the former negative pressure to quit. Interesting stuff from these two young men.Well, its 11:56 PM, Kinloch is snoring away. I called my love to keep current on her problems at home. I am proud she is handling them so well and so disappointed with some of the Caregivers we have taking care of Jeannie's mom. They quit with no notice. This is a 24 X 7 job. We bought her a small condo two miles from us to avoid a nursing home. It takes weeks to advertise, screen, do background checks, and they agree and sign a year contract with a two-week intent to leave notice. The night I called her, the fax rang, handwritten note from a UCF Nursing student saying, ¢I quit, won't be to work TOMORROW¢!Oh well, zero tomorrow. Will catch you on e-mails. Thanks for all the supporting mail. I will try and answer it all.It's scheduled to rain tomorrow so good time for a day off. I think we have been rained or snowed on over half our journey so far."Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed with the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain