Date: 2003-05-09
From: Jennings Creek

To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.9

goldberry has gone on vacation. she's been taken over by goldberry-x. goldberry-x is a different kind of hiker. she sleeps in more. she takes more breaks and she focuses more on having FUN than on hiking high miles. the Ego heard both arguments from goldberry and goldberry-x and the Ego has kicked goldberry off the payroll for the moment. part of this decision was that i felt run down and i don't really need to rush this journey. i've proven to myself that CAN do high miles (18+), but why in the heck do i want to keep that up? it's no fun! i can easily do 15-18 mile days and have time to do more than just hike, which is fun anyway. i have to give credit to kitty, orb, and stringbean for helping me see the light and teaching me the tao of slow.anyway, i'm trying this new philosophy out for a week and seeing it if improves my mood, which was getting a little low.so...i slept in this morning...until 7:30 anyway. after a long and big breakfast when we tried to finish the remaining graham crakers, chocolate, and marshmellows (i never said that i was a good model for kids). it was 14.9 to the thunderhead shelter, which sounds like a short day, except for the 3200 FT CLIMB over the course of the day. i hiked with kitty and orb for the first 10 miles until lunch at cornelius shelter. stringbean and lucky came up and joined us. after that i hiked with stringbean to the next shelter where we're staying for the night. we were just climbing apple orchard mt when the skies opened up and we were drenched in a minute. so we didn't see much of a view. it was a warm rain and felt good.kitty and orb are going into town tonight to meet up with some of kitty's college friends and they will catch up to us early next week. before kitty and orb left they were teasing us about all the ice cream and food that they were planning on eating. then they left... and then trail angel Bobbalouie walks up with 2 coolers, one of fruit, one of pop and beer, and a backpack full of little debbies. hoho! who needs to go into town now?! boo yaa! thank you Bobbalouie for a wonderful surprise and great company.he has actually been reading this journal so can thank him again if he reads this. Bobbalouie had thru-hiked two years ago and had some great advice on what's coming up. i told him about my new hiking philosophy and he thought it was good stuff--to slow down and take it all in. bobbalouie will also be at trail days so i'll be seeing him in a week again. that trail magic really hit the spot and it reminds me again that the thru-hikers who are hiking the AT this year make great memories not just through interaction with other hikers, but through the thoughtfulness of alumni hikers or anyone out there with a smile (or a candybar) for one smelly, dirty group of people.eli, michel, and mutton (just met him) are here tonight with us. eli is a writer for the nashville city paper and his weekly AT story is online at www.nashvillecitypaper.com. we had some good talks together but i'll probably loose him tomorrow--he can really fly and goldberry-x doesn't fly anymore. i can't remember if i've described The Plan for the next week: the plan (as long term as it gets out here) is that orb, kitty, and i are going to rent a car in waynesboro on friday (16th) and drive down to damascus for trail days and come back to the trail on sunday. cheesecake and the matrix 2 will happen sometime then too. if anyone is thinking about being on I-81 on those days, watch out for a car where some smelly hikers are trying to remember how to drive after 2 months of just hiking. lucky can't come (which stinks) and is meeting his family in waynesboro instead (which is neat). trail days is a week long hiker festival in damascus, VA (where i was in late April). more details to come about what happens during it after i've been there.anyway, it's going to be great. a road trip on the trail...makes sense to me!