Date: 2014-03-09
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Standing Bear Hostel
Miles today: 3.6
Weather: clear sky

The main reason I do this is to document my daily sights, people I meet, and overall experience so I can go back and relive it as much as possible. Emotions has to be a part of it as well. Some days are better than others, and you go through a lot. I woke up today wanting to go home. It was weird cause I haven't felt that way yet but now I do. Don't get me wrong, I have no intention on going home, but it crossed my mind. I miss my daughter, friends, normal way of life, even the thought of working my business was missed for a while. I thought about going to church, hanging at Spirits before a poker game and the softball season I'm gonna be missing. I realized that maybe I was as close to home as I will ever be when I cross Interstate 40 at the TN/NC line. I could be home in 5 hours. A very short day of hiking led me to Standing Bear Hostel, a very popular hostel on the trail and for good reason. It's a very interesting place with characters running the joint. It's in the middle of nowhere Tennessee, but its a half a mile off the trail. Everything you need is there, a shack for a shower, a different shack for food, a shack for laundry, a shack just for beer, and of course the bunk room. I arrived about 10am and ran into Rocket who helped run the place. He showed me around and found my 2 packages that were waiting for me. My new Big Agnus Q-Core sleeping pad, and a goodie box from Angela again. In the bunk room Jesi and Mark were just getting up and were both happy to see me. I found out that Jesi along with her tremendous blister on her foot also twisted her ankle yesterday and was very bloated. She definitely wasn't going anywhere today. Mark was debating on "zeroing" or taking off, but it's not hard to convince him to just stay for another day. After showering, getting into my "town clothes", and seeing my hiking buddies I felt better. We ended up getting pizzas and played a very long game of Rummy in the "kitchen". Rocket got the fire going while 2 other hikers came in that we haven't met before. As you can see in the picture there was PacMan from San Francisco with his little black dog named "Big Hungry". Another solo female thru-hiker named Roadrunner from Ireland also seen in the pic came in as well. She is a very fast hiker starting on the 26th! Probably never see her again for sure. Also in the picture is Mark along with the resident dog named Duke.We sat up for a while getting deep into touchy subjects while drinking a couple of Yuenglings and staring at the fire. I really enjoy this place and much rather stay here than go to a hotel. It feels like we are still outdoors and roughing it a bit, but with a convenience of a shower and a cold one right in your reach. Plus you have people like Rocket who just tells stories all night. Some of them make sense, and some....well....you just pretend to understand with an awkward laugh. There was only 5 of us there that night, but he said that he had 42 people during the very busy hiking season. I can't imagine. I guess I don't want to....What a mess that would be.Song of the day, Lonesome, or'ny and mean, -Waylon JenningsNo movie today.