Date: 2005-04-27
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Blueberry Patch, Dicks Creek
Miles today: 10.6

Left Tray mountain after a very cold night of very loud snoring from a section hiker. Having the odd mouse scurrying accross us made for an interesting nights sleep. Spike saw a mouse going into Maple Leaf's bag, so he woke him up, "There's a mouse going into your bag." Maple leaf woke up from a deep sleep and said "I'll keep an eye on it," and dropped back into dreamland. He obviously didn't care. The aim was to get to the famous Blueberry Patch that Lauren, and the ridgerunner spoke very highly of. The hostel is run by a couple who runs a ministry, and for a few months of the year takes in thru hikers at no charge (donations only). The weather was great (finally). The hikers traveling on this section with us were Lauren/ I be Hikin' (who at the age of 75 had walked this section, Springer to Fontana, about 167 miles, 14 years in a row). He had also, in younger years, done the entire thru-hike. He is definitely an inspiration. Also, Josh, Will and Maple Leaf. We hitched in with Josh, and we all ended up at the Blueberry Patch around lunch time. This place was amazing. There was chocolate, cookies, pudding, ice cream, pasta, cokes, and lots more food in the hostel. We met Gary (thru-hiked in I think 1997) and his wife Lennie. Gary mentioned that in his through hike, the first 30/40 days he had rain. Gary took our laundry and washed and dried it in no time. Spike and Beckham hitched straight into town after a shower. We went to the supermarket and bought 6 Corona's (one for each of us), with limes, and a large stash of home made chocolate chip cookies. Everyone in town was super nice. It was like we were in Pleasantville. We went to the bank and were introduced to everyone in the bank as "Australians on the AT". We then hitched back to the Blueberry Patch. A lady picked us up and the first thing she said was "I hate people. You'all are hikers so you're ok though." She threw the buckets and hay into the front seat, and we jumped in. This was the start of the most fearful 8 minutes 17 seconds of our short lives. It felt like an hour. Immediately she sparked up a bowl, and began smoking. She bent down to the front seat passenger floor to get a book that was written on Africa. It took at least 10 seconds for her (with no eyes on the road) to rummage through the buckets and junk on the floor to get it. Thats when our knuckles began to go white with fear. She then bent down moments later to rummage through the junk on the floor to find her CD collection. She told us that she had had a REALLY bad day because her boyfriend of 5 years (he hikes the trail every 5 years-which is when he meets up with her) had just gotten married and she was pissed off. We noticed that the dogs legs were shaking. She told us he had nerve problems.... (I wonder why...). At one point when we passed the Blueberry Patch,. she slammed on the breaks (the dog hit the back of the passenger seat and then fell to the floor). She noticed I looked afraid, and said "it's OK, I'm not going to kill you, I've taken driving courses, I'm also an ex-emergency nurse. That was comforting. We were grateful for a ride though. We shared our story with the others over a beer (we had to hide in the back room as we didn't realize we weren't supposed to drink in the hostel). The others were EXTREMELY grateful for the beer. We then all went to Daniel's for dinner. $7.50 all you can eat (supposedly the most expensive place in town). We ate lots of southern fried chicken and tried the greens with hot sauce. Unfortunately we somehow broke our digital camera so will have to find an alternative soon, maybe a disposable.