Date: 2005-04-21
From: Bald Mtn. Shelter

To: Ms.Janet's
Miles today: 16.9

Day 33: April 21,2005Today was a difficult day for me. I woke up in a bad mood which usually is never a good start to anyones day. My blisters were feeling better after a short mile day & todays initial plan was to have a 10.6 mile day & then head into Erwin on Friday. Dave made me a mocha & we downed some breakfast bars. A crew had cruised in after watching the sunrise on Big Bald & everyone chatted excitedly. I enjoy quiet mornings, so that set me off a bit. My blisters were feeling a bit sore, so we started out hesitantly. I was moving slow & not enjoying the hike b/c of my blisters...It was painful! I kind of had a mental breakdown today. I was in a bad moood & then my blisters hurt so Piker took a lot of my weight(food bag & clothes bag) so that I would not have as much pressure on my feet. As my tears dried & we walked on we decided to take a lunch break, summer sausage burritos. We had a few miles to go so we trudged on. Arriving @ the shelter a light rain began to fall & we sat down to comtemplate the situation. Town & barbeque were only 6 miles away and we were not looking forward to staying in a packed shelter so Dave rebandaged my blisters, we ate the last of our snacks(meaning WE HAD to go to town) & headed on our way. We thought that a lot of people may do exactly what we were so Dave jumped ahead so that he could call Ms.Janet & we would hopefully be able to get a spot. We wanted to stay @ Ms. Janet's so bad we were willing to camp in her yard but alas Dave hiked 6 miles in 1 1/2 hrs. & scored us the last bed & Ms.Janet's. YAY! Dave called Ms.Janet from Uncle Johnny's whispering theentire time. We crossed the bridge, dropped our packs & crashed to the ground. We made it to town & Ms.Janet was on her way to get us...Life was good. We were chugging our Mtn.Dews as a few more friends rolled up, Eagle Eye,Nate,Hardcore & Swampthing. We waited & waited & then @ 6:00 here comes the big tan van,Ms.Janet w/a big smile on her face w/Captain Chaos & puppy dog Fabien. We hopped in & introduced ourselves & Ms.Janet told Dave & me that we got the last bed & it was a double...We looked @ each other & smiled. Ms.Janet launched into dinner options while we headed to her house. We were settled on a barbeque, Rivers Edge, so we stopped by Ms.Janet's & dropped our stuff off & we saw that the Bruces & Domino were there so we were psyched. We jumped back in the shuttle & Ms.Janet took us to the barbeque that we had been talking about for the past 3 weeks. Piker,Nate,Eagle Eye,Hardcore,Swampthing & I all went to dinner. I had a house salad & a Pork BBQ Platter w/mac&cheese,beans & multiple pieces of Mexican cornbread, Dave had a Pork & Beef BBQ Patter w/potato salad, baked beans & Mexican corn bread. Plus we could have beer there, by the time we left after my dessert we were completely stuffed w/big smiles on our faces. At the River's Edge we saw an article about "Murderous Mary",a cicle elephant who killed her handler, was tried for murder & convicted & sentenced to death. The story gets even more interesting because the town of Erwin hung the elephant. This was in the 1960's, they looped a chain around its neck & hung it from a crane. How inhumane, talk about animal rights. This is on of the things that Erwin is most famous for. Crazy! After a great dinner Ms.Janet picked us up, we grabbed some beer & went back to the house. I grabbed my maildrops from my mom & was thrilled to find her homemade chocolate chip cookies & a bag of gummy candy. Aren't moms the best! I went around the house offering everyone some cookies. We sat around chatting,drinking beers, & freaking ourselves out by watching The Blair Witch Project. We had a restless nights sleeep, waking up with the pomeranian ,who's owner was sleeping next to us in the bunk room, licking my feet & jumping all over Dave. I tried to push her off so that Dave would not wake up but I was too late, he awoke & pulled the blanket up & the dog hit the floor yelping. But it sill would not be the last time the dog would jump on our bed & be flung to the floor by Dave, we hoped that our zero would be relaxing & we would get at least one good nights sleep.