Date: 2009-12-02
To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Hi all,Josh asked me over the phone today to update the journal about my and his weeks¢ so here I am.I¢ve spent the past week and a half oscillating between being moderately sick and trying to pretend like I¢m not by doing normal non-employed person stuff (you know, cleaning, reading, hanging out with friends) and being flat-on-my-back super duper sick. I¢m now on my second brand of antibiotics trying to clear up this terrible sinus infection I¢ve had for almost a month now and also have the (presumably) swine flu. I didn¢t take the test for swine flu but everyone seems to think that¢s what it is since I basically couldn¢t get out of bed for 4 days to eat, pee, or brush my teeth.I still have hives and angioedema. They are agitated by bacterial or viral infections, so even though I¢m out of the cold, I still have them from the sinus and lord knows what other infections I have. Both ears and my right eye swelled up like balloons when I had the worst of the flu. These are not among the AT pictures that I will be putting up on facebook. Those of you that were in Israel with me on the AMHSI program know exactly what I mean. Please refrain from snickering at your computers, though I honestly won¢t hold it against you if you do. It looks actually quite hilarious if it¢s not your body parts.Enough about me.Josh is in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, or what we lovingly call ¢the Smokies.¢ These were our last big obstacle on the way to Georgia because of their high elevation and big climbs. Anytime from fall to late spring it can be extremely cold, and therefore icy, up near the peaks, regardless of the temperatures down in the valleys. Going through them in December you pray, you beg, and if you see the sun, you thank the lord and hike like hell while the going is good. If there¢s bad weather, you¢re screwed. Not as screwed as you would be on the mountains in Washington State on the Pacific Crest Trail, where the trail could be 100% impassable in bad weather, but screwed like you¢re in for extreme discomfort and a moderate chance of hypothermia (which will kill you if you¢re not careful). I would rather be at home with the swine flu and my eye swollen shut than hike the Smokies in really bad weather¢¦ at least that¢s extreme discomfort with zero chance of hypothermia.Josh and Phil have had moderately okay weather for part of the time, and really crappy weather for one day. That day they walked only 7 miles I think because it was freezing and raining. Josh said he had to walk carefully as to not slip on the forming ice. Apparently they both took a few spills that day and Phil did a summersault nearly off a cliff one time when he fell over. (That reminds me of that time I fell in the Presidentials actually.) The next day it was better and they walked 20 miles. And today again it was freezing and raining. They both threw up their arms in disgust¢ at least that¢s how I picture it¢ and hightailed it the three miles from the shelter to the Gatlinburg trailhead. They got a ride into Gatlinburg on a trolley that Phil had somehow flagged down and have been drying themselves at a hotel all day.The kicker here is that Josh is getting a cold. He said he was feeling congested and coughing a little for a few days. Today he is resting at the hotel and will be warm for the night. But tomorrow, it¢s back to the wilderness and the weather forecast isn¢t fantastic. It¢s partly sunny for a day, then snow and rain again. Hopefully he¢ll be better tomorrow but if not, I¢m dragging MY congested coughing self four and half hours out to Gatlinburg to pick him up and then we¢ll BOTH have to hike this section next year. On the phone he said ¢Why did we decide to do this again?¢ and we laughed and cried all at the same time.Hopefully, though, everything will go relatively as planned and there won¢t be two sick thru-hikers in Greensboro, NC¢¦ just this one. I¢ll keep you posted.Anya