Date: 2013-03-10
From: Blueberry Patch Hostel

To: Hiawassee Budget Inn
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

"Poems and old songs and old tunes are with memorizing, so that when the last delirium comes you're muttering something worth listening to." - Frederick ParkI sleep well - nobody in the hostel snores during the night! I wake up before most of the hikers to take a morning shower and to write. We get packed up before the 0830 breakfast - some of us are going right back to the Trail at 0930, and some of us are going to church with Gary and Lennie - his wife - nearby at 1030. What a breakfast it is! I think all of us eat to satisfaction. The gal who was here yesterday - I still don't have her name - shows up and shuttles Movie Star and Hermes back to Unicoi Gap. Blue Moon, Trail Movin', and Roosta are going back on the Trail at Dicks Creek Gap right now. Chickadee, Chris, Cassandra, and myself are going to church this morning. I get a chance to chat with Night stalker, a Trail friend of Gary, before church. While not a thru-hiker he seems to be an absolute purist when it comes to the Trail. It is interesting to discuss Trail matters with him and Chickadee.1030 comes and we head to the nearby Baptist church for their service. It is always fun to visit churches far from home as I pass through the area. All us hikers take a pew with Gary. At the beginning of the service he introduces us to the congregation, and some of them introduce themselves to us. One of them is Snowman, a 1996 thru-hiker. The theme of the service is how Jesus is here to salvage us from worthless to useful. I feel like choosing to leave my job, which was not growing me any time soon, and starting the Trail is something that will help me more wholly realize who I am and live up to whatever potential I have. I would say I hope that was the right choice, but in my gut I really know this was right.The church service wraps up and we return to the hostel. Immediately after we park, my ride partway to the dance pulls up. My method of reaching this dance wound up being quite unlikely. My contact at the Sylva dance, section hiker Kaleidoscope asked Mary - her friend with the ATC - if she could get me from Hiawassee. Mary in turn asked Pat - one of her friends and completely unrelated to dancing - if he could get me from Hiawassee to Franklin. Anyways, the timing is uncanny and Pat is here the moment I return from church. I say goodbye to the hikers who went to church with me, and I also say hello to the hikers that have done a nero into the hostel today. Steady Pace is here, and there are a few more hikers I do not recognize. I load my pack into Pat's car and set off toward Sylva.Pat takes me as far as a parking area near Franklin. Our conversation ranges from education - Pat is a high school teacher - to land use and development. Mary meets us shortly after we arrive near Winding Stair Gap, a place I will be passing through again after walking 40 more miles. Mary takes me through Franklin to Sylva. We mostly talk Trail on the way there, with some interruptions for Mary to point out local features. She offers to stop at the outfitter in Franklin, but I cannot imagine anything I am missing from my kit. There is also a Scottish tartan museum in Franklin, possibly the only one of its kind. Terrible hay-related puns are made, and I regrettably must approve of such antics.We arrive in Sylva and I see the dance venue for the first time. The dance is in the historic city hall, atop a hill overlooking the center of town. The dance itself is in the old courthouse, and from one side of the room you can look straight down Main Street from far above the rooftops. We have arrived early, so I watch the small crowd trickle in. The band is a loose orchestra and today is composed entirely of string instruments. The caller is Frederick Park, who turns out to be quite a riot. The dancers are mostly older folks, and there are maybe 25 present by the end of the dance. A mother brings her young child, the child's friend, and a newly-purchased duckling.It is a quiet dance, but I am glad to find myself back at a dance. It has been rare for me to go without dancing for over a week! Frederick calls some types of dances that I don't often see, including a Sicilian circle. The folks are pleased to see a stranger present here. The dance wraps up at 1700 and is followed by a potluck. I put a bit of food in me and begin working my way back to the Trail. Mary can get me as far as Winding Stair Gap, where the AT crosses US Route 64. From there I will see about hitchhiking down 64 toward Hiawassee, and from there stay in town or get back to the Trail. There is a campsite 1.1 miles from Dicks Creek Gap that I can probably use if I reach the Trail tonight. Mary drops me at the trailhead. I throw on my pack and start walking west. Traffic is very light - it is Sunday evening after all - and the thought crosses my mind that I may be stealth camping roadside tonight. I count the westbound cars passing me. 18 go by in about 30 minutes. Number 19, a red Ford pickup, pulls off the road in front of me. I am very fortunate, as the driver is going right into Hiawassee. He introduces himself as Cotter, a Wisconsin native who has followed family out here. We talk about the environment and music and more whilst covering the miles to town.When I am dropped off at the Ingle's I shoot Dumbledore a message. I recalled she might be staying in town instead of the hostel tonight, and that turns out to be the case. I walk across town to the Budget Inn and settle in for the night there. It is already almost 2100 when I get there but I stay up past 2230 chatting about dancing and music and food. There is a 0900 shuttle from here to the Trail tomorrow. The forecast is lots of rain, but I don't want to zero again to avoid the rain.Peace,