Date: 2016-06-27
From: Gulf Rd

To: Cookie LadyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: light rain

We had planned on moving the car up to Dalton this morning and then shuttling back down to BearMountain Rd to continue our Northbound trek. As we drove North we left a few messages for various shuttle drivers making certain of course to avoid Joel, the driver who almost left us stranded in the woods last night. In hindsight, it would have been better to line up a shuttle yesterday. It was past 10 am when we arrived at the trailhead in Dalton so we decided to hike South today which would give us more time to get a shuttle lined up. So we¢ll hike about 10 miles today which leaves a chunk of trail that¢s two days hiking length to fill in between where we¢ll stop tonight and where we left off further South yesterday. I don¢t really like to hike Southward if I can avoid it and I detest ¢hiking ahead¢ like this - I get confused spatially by doing this. I¢ve got a picture of the trail going up through the states and mixing things up like this makes it harder for me to visualize myself like a little ant crawling up the wall map. We met Rabbit, a NOBO that I remembered seeing down in Virginia at the Four Pines Hostel. He was surprised that I could recall that far back on the trail but I seem to have a way with remembering faces. He shared with us how he¢d recently gotten Lyme¢s Disease and had to take a break to heal up. You can check out his adventures by looking up his blog here on Trail Journals. I stopped at an auto repair shop to use the bathroom and ended up talking with the owner about doing some work on my car. The brakes have been squeaking for way too long and he specializes in Hondas. When he said he was willing to run up to the trailhead to fetch the car I decided to have him work on it while we hiked today. I hiked up to a field today with the brightly colored little house on wheels that you can see in today¢s photo. As I walked up there was one goat standing just outside the little house with a second goat looking out the door. The goat looked at me and said ¢baaaa¢ and I responded with my very best goat imitation. Within seconds all of the goats you can see came pouring out of the little house to come over and check me out. It would have made a good video if I was ready in time with my phone. It was a nice hike today with mostly gentle uphills that I try to convince myself don¢t count as hills since they don¢t get my heart rate up. My new inexpensive hiking poles with the cane type handles I like are giving out already. The baskets are broken, the carbide tips are mostly worn down, and the shock absorbers broke so they click-clack with every step. Dr Fixit said that Leki makes a cane grip version so I ordered a pair from Amazon. It¢s beyond me how he knows so much about everything but it does come in handy to have a hiking partner like this. We are settled into our tents at the cookie lady¢s house which is where we ended up our hike today. She¢s been busy looking after her husband who fell and broke his hip recently and although we didn¢t get any cookies, it¢s great to be able to camp out in her yard. By the way, since the Dr hasn¢t gotten his replacement tent yet I¢m in my one person tent tonight and yes, it¢s a pretty tight fit. I can see how having a slightly larger tent is a real asset to maintaining my sanity on the trail. Thanks so much for following along with me on my adventure!