Date: 2013-04-18
From: No Business Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Sometime during the night my sleeping pad deflated and I blew it back up. It soon deflated again so I spent much of the night tossing and turning on my hard bed. I'll have to try to find the leak when I get to town and patch it. Unfortunately this town doesn't have a full service outfitter so I'll have figure out what to do if I can't patch it. I awoke around 6:00 raring to do the final push into town. I packed my stuff up inside the tent and could see the light in 5161's tent as he packed up. I awoke Trouble and Melkie who were camped further away and we got an early start on a pretty day. The climbs were not so bad today . . . or the thought of town food, a hot shower, and clean clothes were really motivating. As we descended the final mountain we had clear views of Erwin and and the Nolichucky River far below us . . . too far for my height sensitive stomach! A train was moving through town and the sound carried up the mountain. The other sound of civilization that I heard coming into Hot Springs and Erwin is the sound of someone mowing their lawn. It sounds so different when you 're accustomed to the sound of woodpeckers. The other sign of civilization were two trail runners (not ridge runners). The only hiker we saw today was Ursula Major. Today has been the most amazing day for trail angels. The trail does not run into Erwin so you have to catch a ride if you want to go into town. As you come off the trail there is a hostel there but word on the trail was that many people who stayed there had become ill. Not saying anything bad about the hostel as just about anywhere hikers are congregating is prone to spreading the norovirus. As we walked up to the hostel, Food Walker approached us asking if we'd seen Tracy McG. He and Tracy are a couple from Wisconsin who were thru hiking together. Food Walker fell before Fontana Dam (before the Smokies) and injured himself bad enough to not be able to continue hiking. He is now supporting his wife's hike by driving to places to meet her and helps her resupply etc. He also helps other hikers along the way. He offered to give us a ride to McDonalds in Erwin but didn't have enough room in his car for all of us so he said he would make two trips. I went first and thought I could google places to stay using McDonalds wifi. Thank you Food Walker!Before I could google any hotels I heard a large Oreo McFlurry calling my name. While I waited for it to be made I struck up a conversation with a young biker (motorcycle) couple. They gave me some good advice about what to expect regarding future terrain and were interested in what I had already experienced. While I was eating my McFlurry Trouble emailed me to say she had met the AT legendary Miss Janet who has been helping hikers for years. Miss Janet called a cheap local hotel and talked the owner into allowing Trouble and Melkie to stay there even though they don't normally allow pets. When Trouble and Melkie arrived at McDonalds we ordered some food and sat outside eating. I went inside to use the restroom and found Big Red and Yooper who I had not seen since Hot Springs. They had fallen victim to the norovirus and had been zeroing in Erwin while they recovered. They are now slack packing and going back to hike the parts of the trail they skipped. We started walking up the street looking for the drug store where Anita had arranged for a prescription for medication for nausea and vomiting in case the norovirus decided to take up residence in my body. As we walked past a parking lot we heard a woman yell "hey hikers, where you going?" We told her we were looking for the drug store and the laundromat and she told us to get in the car. Her name is Catherine and her husband is in the white water kayaking and rafting business. They try to help out hikers whenever they can. Not only did she take us to the drug store but she waited 30 minutes to get the prescription filled and them drove us to the laundromat. Thank you Catherine! I changed into my down coat and rain pants (which I rolled up into shorts) so that I could wash all my other clothes. I was the latest in laundromat fashion (see pic section).We called Miss Janet to see if she could give us a ride to the hotel. She never called back but she showed up with her 15 passenger van a short time later. About half way to the hotel I realized I didn't have my pouch with all my money, credit cards, and ID. Miss Janet was kind enough to drive us back to the laundromat. I was worried sick that it would be gone. I rushed in to find Food Walker (the guy who gave us a ride into town) standing there grinning ear to ear. He said "missing something?" Wow, this was my lucky day. Although Miss Janet has a tradition that when a hiker leaves something behind and she takes them to get it, she makes you do a 20 second dance that she videotapes. She calls it the pole dance because so many hikers leave their poles. She is planning to make one big video tape of everyone's dances. Thank you Food Walker (again) and thank you Miss Janet!Miss Janet dropped us off at the motel and said she would be back at 6:30 to give us a ride to dinner. She took us to a Mexican restaurant and left to pick up more hikers. We probably ended up with a out 15 hikers at our table. Almost everyone of them had been sick. Miss Janet showed up about an hour and a half later with another van load of hikers and we hopped on for a ride back to the motel. Much to my surprise Peanut was on board. I had not seen Peanut since the Nantahala Outdoor Center. I was pleased that she was doing well and still hiking. Before dropping us at the motel, Miss Janet drove across town so Trouble could get her poles that she accidentally left at the hostel when we entered town. Since it was so late she didn't make Trouble do the pole dance. Back at the motel I filled the bathtub with water and immersed my sleeping pad in it so I could identify the leak by the small bubbles escaping. I marked the whole with a sharpie and will patch it tomorrow after my pad drys. It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow, but Miss Janet has agreed to pick us up at 8:00 and drive us 20 miles north so we can slack pack back to Erwin. That way we can dry out in the motel and have hot showers for two days in a row!