Date: 2005-03-21
From: Hiawassee

To: Bly Gap
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: overcast clouds

It turned out that most of M Company decided to do a zero day today and remain in Hiawassee to enjoy the basketball tournament and/or the hot tub at the Holiday Inn. Butterfly Moon and I, however, felt the trail calling, so we decided to set out for Franklin.Once again we stuck out our thumbs, and after only about fifteen minutes got a ride back to Dick's Creek Gap. As we were getting ready to hike, who should appear coming up the trail but Cuppa Joe and the famous Ms. B (Breakaleg) herself.I have been leaving little messages of encouragement and other endearments for Ms B. in the registers at each of the shelters I've stayed at since Springer Mt, knowing how much she would appreciate the fact that I was thinking of her. Things like "Come on Scholar, Cuppa Joe and 'ol what¢s-her-face - you can do it!"As my intrepid regular readers may recall, I finally met up with Scholar and Cuppa Joe in Neels Gap, as I was heading out and they were just coming in, but I had to leave before Ms B. showed up. I understood from them that, for some totally unexplainable reason, Ms. B had been writing some rather unkind register entries in response to my words of encouragement. I was, of course, shocked to learn that she had interpreted my efforts to acknowledge her presence as anything other than the most positive and transformative psycho-spiritual response to the landscape in which we have both have been dwelling, but perhaps all of this hiking has just reduced her capacity for philosophical thinking. Anyway, she greeted me with great enthusiasm, and a few choice words that I am not able to repeat here without risking a fine from the FCC. We chatted for a bit before Butterfly Moon and I started up the trail and she and Cuppa Joe headed into Hiawassee. Before leaving, however, I assured her that I would be very careful in any future register entries to say only the nicest possible things about her, which of course, I did at the very next stop...Our hike today was a good one, in part because I think I'm beginning to get my trail legs. I've also adopted Butterfly's approach to going uphill; which seems to work better for me than what I had been doing. Basically, my approach had been to go at a pretty good clip until I was winded, and then lean on my poles and try to get my wind back before charging off again. Her approach is to take really slow, kind of plodding steps, but just keep moving up the hill without stopping. We were both getting to the top at the same time, but she never seemed to get winded. When I tried her approach, it just felt better, so I adopted it for myself. Ya see - ya CAN teach an old dog new tricks!We reached our planned camp site about two pm, set up our tents, and hung our bear bags. In addition to Butterfly Moon and me, we had the Hopeful Hiker, NuB and a new through hiker we met that day, Phoenix. We weren't sure what to expect in the way of weather, but we'd had reports that a storm front was due in from the west some time on Tuesday. When we left Hiawassee the exact time it would hit was not clear. As I write this, from the warmth and comfort of my tent and sleeping bag, I can hear the wind beginning to pick up - whooshing through the trees that surround our camp site. I wonder what tomorrow will bring!One last bit of good news from today¢s hike: just before reaching Bly Gap, we crossed the Georgia-North Carolina state line. Over dinner, we celebrated having completed our first state! Only 13 more to go!!Today's hike is dedicated to my big brother, Len, who always looked out for me when we were growing up, and never complained when I would tag along with him and his buddies. Thanks, Bro. I love ya!Stay tuned, Longhaul(Editor¢s Note)Leaving notes in the trail registers is sometimes a lot like reading email. Without hearing the voice inflections and seeing the body language of the speaker, sometimes the message can be misconstrued. I¢m glad that Longhaul and Mrs. B had a chance to chat so that the situation could quickly be resolved. The hiking community is one with a great big heart, and, though sad it is, sometimes conflicts do arise. However, the good thing is that you can always walk off and leave them. ;-) Tenacious Tanasi (Shelly Hale)