Date: 2009-03-19
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

(Sorry about the big gap in entries, have not had access to a computer in the smokies, today is 3/26)Well, I made my entry for 3/18 late yesterday afternoon. The big news is that I finally got a trail name. I'll tell you in a minute. I have been having trouble getting my water to boil with my alcohol stove (Ion from Whiteblaze) and have been encouraged by my hiker cohorts to get a different stove at the NOC outfitter. I wanted to do one more experiment to make sure I just didn't have bad fuel. So I bought an ounce of alcohol from the outfitter and we all sat on the deck for the grand experiment. 12 minutes, burned all the alcohol but still only got hot water, no boil. Mocked again by the others. Oh the humiliation. Bought a new Etowah alcohol stove. At dinner that night it was decided that I would be called "Slow Burn" (Wait for it, there is another twist to this story.) after my stove's inefficiency and that I had stuck with it for three weeks. Now I had sent my regular prescription glasses home for weight considerations since I am putting on my prescription sunglasses in the morning and wearing then well after dark. They have a distinctively, funky rose amber combination which are not too dark so I can use them all day. It was well after dark when we left the restaurant right on the Nantahala River and heading to the hostel. There were 16 of us in the group and I was the last in the line, flush with excitement about finally getting a trail name...well as flush as I get. There is a footbridge over the river that we began to cross. At that intersection, the river and the bridge, stood a lone guy about early 20's long hair, and a large fuzzy hat. He did not say a word to any one as we passed until I, the last in line, got to him and he looked up and said, "Nice Lenses" those were his only words. Everyone stopped in their tracks. There was silence and then everone said woah! We huddled in the middle of the bridge and discussed the merits of slow burn versus nice lenses. My trail name is NICE LENSES. Long story that.Thursday the 19th was a zero day for me.I slept on the deck outside my room last night. The frogs and peepers were singing their songs all night. I really enjoyed the symphony. Wish Peepers was there to enjoy it with me. She always enjoys hearing them too. There is a spot light on every corner of each building that stays on all night. Of course one shined in my eyes all night. That's ok. The concert was worth it.There was a lot of dew on my bag this morning but I dried it fairly quickly by hanging it outside over the deck's railing.Went to the outfitter to see if my drop box had come in that days mail. It did not so I was contemplating whether it was worth it to stay another day or buy food and press on. The food part not such a big problem but also had 15 days of my prescriptions in it. I finally asked the manager if he would make a physical search in the storage area for my box rather than going by the log in book. He did and came back with apoligies and my box which had made it to storage without getting logged in. Broke down my food into a more easily carried configuration and was in a better mood the rest of the day for having my goodies.Rested the rest of the day.I don't know what will happen when I enter my trail name into the website, so will wait a few days in case it changes how you get to my journal.See you on the trailJohn aka Nice Lenses