Date: 2005-05-05
From: Iron Mountain Gap

To: Campsight at mile 396
Miles today: 26.0

There is this song out right now by a group called ¢Van Zant¢, (yes the same Van Zant name from Skynard¢¦), and it goes like this: ¢If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans¢This line puts a concept I am learning to be very true into simplistic terms; Here are my past few days¢¦Thursday May 5:Actually, I start off relaying the previous day where I dropped off. This is for Wednesday and Thurday¢¦I left Miss Janet¢s yesterday around 3:00 after waking up on a bench seat from her van that is in the back yard, and cracking over three dozen eggs for breakfast and making real sausage gravy, well, learning how to make sausage gravy from Ms. J. I was planning on leaving a bit earlier than that so I could get in at least 12 miles to the second shelter that evening, but since we didn¢t leave until later I had to reschedule my day. When we left her house we headed off to the dump to get rid of some recyclables and then we headed to the Dairy King, so everyone, (Ms. Janet, Redbeard, Zen, and Panoramic), could get some burgers and some Ice Cream. I didn¢t get anything because shortly before we left the house, I gorged myself on a few, yes, more than one, Ice Cream sundae, (Pralines and Cream, and also, Cookies and Cream, with caramel and the fixins), and I also ate her grits from yesterdays breakfast that were amazing. She makes them with boiled milk, garlic, and parsley, so they actually remind me more of mashed potatoes. I also ate some great biscuits made that morning that were left over, with some jelly, some needless to say, I wasn¢t that hungry. I finally started hiking and I felt tired and sluggish. The terrain wasn¢t hard, and it didn¢t take that long to get to the shelter, but my pack was stuffed full of food from my mail drop, and it was my first day on the trail with a full pack since a few days ago, and I still had foot pain, that seems like it will never go away, along with my shin splints. I got to the Clyde Smith Shelter, and it was full, but I didn¢t mind setting up my tent, because any day that it isn¢t supposed to rain, I have learned that tenting is the option that I prefer, because I sleep so much better without people next to me snoring, as it sets something off in me during the night that makes me irritated, if it wakes me up. Tenting is great because I am warmer, and I can really stretch out and sleep better, and if it¢s warm enough, I can just drape my bag over me. In the shelters, I can¢t really sleep on my stomach because it would take up to much room than if I was all spread out. Anyways, I tried to read a bit around the fire, but I couldn¢t concentrate, and so I went to bed, after joking around with redbeard, zen, and panoramic, about panoramic food supply which was bought entirely at the gas station and costs him about forty dollars, and he got so much junk. I slept good, and prepared for a day of rain the following day. Anyways, I woke up on thurday, May 5 to chilly weather and to the sunrise. It is nice that I¢m back on schedule of waking up at 7:00 again since I had to at Ms Janets to help make Breakfast. I ate a small breakfast of a pop tart and started hiking. I was tired again, and so since it was raining, and I was tired, I decided that today would be a radio day. (On crappy days, I listen to a radio to help me make it through. I have learned that to accomplish any goal, you have to know yourself and know how to keep yourself from getting irritated, fruststrated and burnt. I originally felt that radio¢s should be banned from the trail, and I beat myself up mentally for finally brining one, but I want to accomplish this goal of mine to hike the whole thing, and I know I need help, and the radio provides it. I feel fine about it now, because it is teaching me a lesson about obtaining goals, and using stimuli to help push myself forward. The radio is my stimuli, to keep me positive, and I am glad I have learned this, and more importantly, accepted this, and not tried to be hardcore, and idealistic, which would force me off of the trail in the long run. This lesson is so valuable. People have these ideas of what things should be like, and we hold ourselves accountable to these standards we set before we even experience things. We need sometimes, to do what helps us achieve a goal, even if it means, changing how we feel about certain aspects that aren¢t that important. I don¢t have the time to really put this lesson into similar terms, so for know I¢ll just say, I am glad I learned another lesson of how one must adapt to achieve an ultimate goal. This all ties in with not having expectations of how this trail should or shouldn¢t be, I am so glad that I am out here to hike it, and I am not expecting anything in particular from it, I am out here to experience whatever I experience. This outlook I subscribe to is the outlook that will get me to Katahdin, and it is the outlook that is required of anyone of the 10% that actually make it to the end on the Summit of Katahdin. Anyways¢¦. I hiked in the rain and mud to Roan Mountain, which is renowned as one of the most beautiful parts of the trail, as its summit offers outstanding views that are above 6000¢ and from the top you have a full 360 degree view of the surrounding valleys and peaks which are triumphant. I got to the top, and I was in a cloud, with no views. I could see approximately five feet in the clouds, as the rain which was turning into snow whipped my face and I quickly hurried off of the summit to get to the shelter nearby to eat my lunch and to rest after the monstrous climb, that really took nothing out of me, which was awesome because everyone else was complaining of the climb and how insanely hard it was and I wasn¢t even out of breath. I stuffed my face at lunch with m&m¢s, crackers, beef jerky that CoHo gave to me, and other food too. The trail after the shelter was interesting because that were relocating it and the didn¢t mark where it went and so I got lost for about an hour and I had to track out the road and try to locate the trail, which I finally did. At the place where I found the trail again, I met up with another hiker I had been hiking with recently named Gatorade and he informed me that at that moment he was waiting for car to come, so he could hitchhike and get off the trail, permanently. It is always sad to lose another hiker, as we all pull for one another to make it all the way, but as we get closer to Damascus Va and pass it, people are continuously going to be dropping out at faster and faster rates. The trail after the road crossing was weird because the had hauled in rocks and pebbles to out on the trail to prevent erosion. I can¢t believe someone actually carried in these tons and tons of rock to out on the trail. For some reason today, I was really emotional. I felt like a menopausal woman or something, b/c I am not a really emotional person. I don¢t hold emotion back or anything, I usually just don¢t have overpowering emotions no matter what is going on, but today I was getting all touched by the songs I was listening to, and although I didn¢t cry or anything, I felt really moved by them all, even if they didn¢t apply to me whatsoever. I really wanted to listen to some some bluegrass and I was SO HAPPY to hear come onto the public radio station and it was awesome b/c when I heard the song it was by one of my favorite bands called the lonsome river band and the song was about Louisville!!! He was talking about I-65 and Louisville and it was so cool. Anyways, the shelter I was hiking to that day was one of the most anticipated shelters on my whole hike. It is a big red barn that was turned into a shelter and it is where a historic battle took place. The battle can be researched by researching the overmoutain men. I got to the shelter and it was packed! There were already 15 or 20 people there and it was only 3:00. (I did 12.9 miles to reach the shelter that day) More people were on their way too, like Redbeard, Zen, Panoramic, I read a lot of my book, and I was located behind the stairs on the second level which gave quite a bit of room, because it wasn¢t an area large enough for two, but for me it was more than enough room, and I could prop me feet up in my sleeping bag on the handrail, and I was comfortable reading 1812 and listening to the radio. I was in my sleeping bag by 5:00 pm and I didn¢t get out of it until 7:30 am when the sun came out! That is right, the rain was finally over for a few days! I had a great night, and my mood was fantastic despite the interesting day. I guess I was pleased to overcome another hurdle of releasing my ideals for how the trip be, and actually doing what worked for me that day, which was listeting to the radio and keeping my spirits up. I am doing well. I slept great and I dreampt about going to my bank and hacking into a certain old ¢friend¢ of mine¢s bank account for some reason, but they showed up, and ended up, well nevermind. It was weird but I won¢t get into that! Everyone that morning was talking about going to the diner that was at a road crossing that day, but I passed on that option, b/c I am happy to be in the wilderness, and I didn¢t feel like getting out quite yet. Friday May 6:I ate a huge breakfast of m&m¢s,poptarts, oatmeal squares, normal oatmeal, smores bars, powerbars and more, and I watched Redbeard and Zen make pancakes for their breakfast which smelled great. Todays hike was one of the most gorgeous hikes I have ever hiked. I hiked onto Hump Bald which was remiscent of highlands Scotland or something. I was over a mile high, and their was no trees. I finally got my 360 degree views and they were fantastic. I felt great and it was inspiring. I took pics, and basked as I walked in the sun. I also overcame my hatred of cattle one I was at the top. There was longhorn cattle grazing at the bald as I made my way off of the summit and I had to walk within feet of them. One of them was even sitting on the trail. For those who don¢t the story, I was once treed by cows on my friends farm b/c they thought I was a coyote. One cow even stole my gun. It was not cool, but I overcame that fear today and I walked right past them and even talked to them. They weren¢t feeling congenial, and so they didn¢t talk back, they just stared at me rudely. I guess I haven¢t reached the level of St. Francis yet, and it probably won¢t happen anytime soon, at least that is what the cattle implied.   I thought about alcohol as I was walking today because I heard I song about it. I remembered some funny times that I have had in bars because that is what the song was talking about. I remembered a funny incident¢¦It happened about a year ago¢¦I¢ll start off by saying I wasn¢t drunk, I can only drink a few beers at once because when I¢m not hiking I am training for cycling stuff, and drinking a lot would impair my performance and caloric intake for the day, and so I can¢t really partake in getting loaded because it would affect my cycling performance. Anyways, now that the minds of my family are settled, because they know I wasn¢t plastered, and I was just having a good time, I¢ll tell the story¢¦ I was at this bar, called the rock-it club,(really applicable now, because I am the rocket!) which is a dance club inside of coyotes, a country line dance bar, but this club plays hip hop. I got up on the stage with these BIG black girls and everyone was hollering at us, because it was so funny. I danced with them for a while and everyone thought it was so funny, because I am about as white as it gets, in terms of clothing, attitude, personality, etc, and they were about as black as it gets¢¦ Anyways, it is just funny to cut loose and do stupid stuff like that every once in a while¢¦ I try not to take myself too seriously. It was a fun time, the people I was there with could probably tell the story better¢¦ Anyways, back to the trail, before I incriminate myself with anymore info¢¦ I decided officially to not stop at the diner as I walked past US 19 and I was rewarded by more great hiking that was totally different than before, but AWESOME, and just what I was looking for. I was hiking in down much lower than previously and I was hiking along this old dirt road and parts of it ran along fields that were lined with old style log fences. The fields were full of wild flowers, and I could almost hear the sounds of artists like Bill Monroe, and the carter family coming out of the hills. It was awesome. I just walked along, and listened to the sounds of the birds and the breeze and it felt like the land was talking to me. It was awesome. It is so nice to get out of the woods, where I am covered up by trees which seem to cluster of cover me up, and get out into the open. It was just great. I can¢t wait to get my guitar sent to me, so next time I am in a situation like that, I can just start playing some old time favorites of mine. I walked on through the afternoon, knowing that I needed to do about twenty miles that day to put me in a ten mile range so I could get into Kincora Hostel the next day rather early so I could have time to do laundry and take a shower before he shuttled us into town. My campsight that evening wasn¢t very scenic, but I was happy after a great day, and I was excited to see the Kincora Hostel and meet Bob Peoples,the owner, who is supposed to be very kind and generous.