Date: 2011-04-24
From: Helen, GA - Unicoi Gap

To: Helen, GA - Unicoi Gap (Day 2)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 7 (Easter Sunday)We went to Huddle House for breakfast and just plain old ate so much food. Then we wandered around the not quite so touristy end of town. We went to some bear place and saw bears and reptiles. We go tto feed the bears. I was pretty much talking to Mom the whole time.Then we went to the Dollar store and looked to see if the post office had a stamp machine. It did not. I had asked pretty much everywhere for a stamp and no one had any so I asked a random old lady at a convenience store and she did have one in her car and she gave it to me and said "Happy Easter."We had lunch at a Mexican place and then went back to the room. Felix had dropped off the tubing poles and I took Honey Badger's big knife and Moosette and I went to the river to work on turning them into hiking poles. While we were there I saw a snake in the river. It was just a couple feet long and it wanted to come out of the river right where we werer. I got some pics of it and it was determined that, yes, this snake was a Copperhead. BTW the "river" is the Chatahoochee.We brought the poles back to the motel and worked on them sitting outside the office. Gary, the desk clerk, came out and chatted with us a bunch. It got pretty sunny on that side of the building and Moosette and I are both dealing with bad sunburns (she has at least a 2nd degree) so we moved out to the other side of the building. Gary got us some chairs out of the pool area. He seems to be fond of us. I believe he admires my tank top quite a bit. I successfully whittled the ends of the poles down to pseudo points. The poles are pretty much like maybe an ovalish 1x2 kinda... There is a hole drilled in the top so I took some of Moosette's rope. Since it was thicker and she had more of it and braided some straps and whittled out hand holds. We went to dinner at Big Daddy's. Steven (who never called us to go fishing) had recommended it. OMG! They had the best beer menu. I decided I would have one Murphy's Irish Stout even though we are heading out tomorrow. I had a french onion dip sandwich for dinner and fried cheesecake for dessert. Our waiter, Ethan, was a great young kid. He confirmed that the snake was a Copperhead and told us the other waiter is a Red Sox fan. I called the other kid over to show him pics of where I was last week. He recognized Fenway right away.On the way to Big Daddy's we had to go through a fence... I was too short to go through the upper section, but the lower was just a tiny bit of smaller Moosette took photographic evidence of me getting almost stuck :/ On the way back I knew better and went through the top.When we got back to the room I caught up on Facebook and apparently some people think my trip is just a big joke. This is really bugging me. A lot. Especially for who the people are. I guess since on Facebook I have only been posting the positive and fun, they think I'm having too much fun for this trip to be meaningful? I have always had a rule that I do not post negative, upsetting, or just downer things on Facebook. Why subject everyone ot the misery that is my feet, the stench of hiker funk, and my horrific sunburn. I know some people (most) are loving my updates (all of them). I love to share my experience. I guess if people don't want to see the pictures of the massive amounts of food I have been wanting/needing to ingest, they don't have to look.We head back out to the trail tomorrow. I think my blisters will be pretty good by then. I am a bit worried about the one on top of my foot though since it is an open gaping wound.I called L.L. Bean to get new poles. The kind I had have been back ordered till August! The woman who helped me had hiked the trail years ago, before cell phones. She was so glad I got her. She helped me pick out what would be best for me and then figured out where to send them to. They wouldn't make it to Hiawassee in time, so they are being sent to Franklin. This means I get to go 50 miles with my homemade ones. Did I mention they don't weigh the same?