5/5/12 – 341 miles
I’ve been wearing the same clothes for five days. When I peal off my socks my feet look like I’ve been walking on mud. And the smell… let’s just say there’s no way to describe it. I’m not sure you could call me a mountain man but I know a little about the depths of squalor the absence of hygiene provides.
We woke early today and took down our tents before it was light. It started to sprinkle just as I was stuffing the rainfly into my pack and I grabbed everything and ran to the protection of the shelter. Chicken Feathers wasn’t so lucky. He decided to eat breakfast, and by the time he took down his tent, it was raining hard. It was 6 miles to town and we covered the distance in 2 hours. I don’t like to walk that fast but we were anxious to get to a motel and out of the rain. As usual, it stopped raining and the sun came out once we reached Erwin.
We walked about a half-mile, trying to hitchhike along the way, until we came to the Holiday Inn. Since we weren’t having any luck getting a ride into town, we decided to get a room and split the cost.
After we showered, did laundry and ate breakfast – they still had the food out for guests – we headed for the grocery store. This time a man stopped and gave us a lift after only a few minutes. All in all, we caught rides two more times, once with a young couple who gave us a ride to the Wallgreens, and the last with the Ford dealer owner that saw us in front of his lot.
We head back to the trail tomorrow.
These last few entries have a little taste of hardship in them. It doesn’t sound like a “walk in the woods”.
It looks like the earliest I could join you would be mid to late June. It’s going to be getting hot, isn’t it?
It’s been a week since this update. We all hope you find a network connection soon so we can catch up on your adventure.
Hope you meet up with your phone charger soon! It’s just a standard micro-USB charger — you could probably find one at any Walmart or Target you happen to pass on the trail…