6/30 (7:50-10:30) 6.9 miles Fontana Dam
GPS location
This was Tom's last day on Trail. His daughter and son-in-law were picking him at Fontana Dam. He did an awesome time for his first time on the trail. My god, I remember our first trip on trail. 2005 with Russ and 12 year old David. We were a mess.
Tom and I had wanted to get an early start to beat the heat and also get to the Fontana Dam visitor center early. Its always so tempting to get into civilization to get food and drinks and stuff. And at this visitor center, they also had free showers. The showers even had soap and shampoo. Nice! Tom usually tries to start hiking before me in the morning so he can have the extra time to hike so he can finish at the same spot as me at the end of the day. As I was finishing packing up in the morning, he was heading off, and he asked me to wait for him at the road. There was a road crossing about 1.5 miles before the visitor center at the dam. At the time, I had no idea why he wanted me to wait. But I quickly asked, "Are you serious?" Halfway concerned about what he wanted, and halfway knowing I would never wait. He said no, and we left it at that. As I was walking, I thought maybe he wanted to triumphantly walk into the visitor center together and have his daughter see it. Haha. I was way off. One of the reasons why I would not have waited was because I would have been waiting for almost 2 hours, sitting at a road with nothing to do when I could be at the visitor drinking sodas, eating stuff and taking a shower. But when he finally got to the visitor center, I figured out why he wanted me to wait. He was afraid of getting lost at the road. I love him (and I miss him. I'm writing this a week later), but he was a little bit of a spazz when it came to things like that. Millions of people hike the AT, the path is completely beaten down and its usually marked pretty well by white paint on trees and objects that are easy to see. There is no reason to be worried about getting lost. But again it was his first trip, and he was an infinitely better hiker than me on my first trip.
So his daughter arrived at the visitor center and drove us to the nearby Fontana Dam Village, a vacation resort. He wanted them to meet me and vice versa, and have lunch together, so we did... Its complete wilderness around here. This area is surrounded by 3 national forests and the Great Smoky National Park. Even in the village, I got no cell phone reception.
We had lunch and they left. I planned on getting a tentsite for $20 at the villlage, but they were completely full. And it was a 4 mile walk back to the Fontana Dam to stay in that shelter for free. So being tired and still in the middle of the retched heat wave, I got suckered in paying for one of their expensive rooms. The resort was very nice. It had a good restaurant, a good general store that I used for resupply and an awesome pool area. Chlorine pools are great during the hike. They really help with the smell. Even after I take showers, I still have horrendous body odor, because I don't have deodorant out here. So the chlorine really helps kill all that madness. Plus it felt great being in a pool in the middle of the heat wave down here.
7/1 (0 miles) The Hiker's Inn
GPS location
I spent until 3 PM at the Fontana Dam Village resort. I had a reservation at the The Hiker's Inn for tonight, but I did not want to go there too early because they had no wifi, no cell reception and nothing really to do. So I arranged for a 3 PM pick up. I chilled most of the day at the pool. The resort had an amazing all you can eat buffet breakfast. It was great. Its a real high class place. It was $12. expensive, but I definitely got my monies worth.
From what people are telling me the heat wave is setting a lot of records in the area. Its pretty damn hot... Oh yea and on the talk of 'damn or dam.' Because we were at Fontana DAM, I kept reciting the line from the Beavis and Butthead movie- Do America, when they were at the Hoover Dam, and Beavis asked the tour guide, "Umm excuse me, is this like a, god dam?" That's pretty funny to me. Pretty much every name out here sets me off on a movie quote. If I'm around people, I just say them in my head so they don't think I'm weird, but then I wind up laughing at it, so that's probably worse. Cause now I'm just laughing out of the blue, which is probably seems more psychotic.
So the shuttle driver picked me up at 3 PM at the village and was going to bring me to the Hiker's Inn, but she wanted to swing by the Dam to see if her other pick up was there, another hiker staying at the Hiker's Inn. He was there, looking dirty and tired and had his gear all over the place. So he got in the car. (This is fat jesus by the way) And my first impression, was OMG this guy's trail name should be Alan, or Zach Galifianakis or best yet, fat jesus. So anyway, he hops in the back seat. And asks me, "Are you hiking North or South?" I replied north. He obnoxiously booed me, like "Boo, boo, boo, boo" Like four boo's. Followed by "South bounders are better." I guessed he expected me to say something. I didn't. He said, "I was just kidding. You better get use to it." Man, I didn't like this guy already. Then I said, "yea man, I really don't care. It's not a competition."
Ok so part of the package of staying at this place was that they do your laundry then take you to a nearby town for dinner and resupply at a market. So we get to the Inn and have about 2 hours to chill before she was going to take us to town. I fell asleep. She woke me up and asked, "are you ready to go into town?" I replied of course and left my room. Then fat jesus was waiting outside and he said, "Yea, you better have been ready to go to town." Damn this guy... He wasn't mean or a bully. I think he was just socially inept, and maybe he thought a little too highly of himself.
On the ride into town, he was smuggly talking about how he runs a hedge fund and his business has offices all over and how he wanted to buy this place on the AT for 4 million dollars, because he could do so much of a better job running it than current management.
So we go to dinner at this awesome Mexican restaurant. It was exactly like the Mexican place in Hiawassee, it had to have been the same owner. I totally made no attempt to talk to him at dinner and answered all of his questions with one or two word answers. He kept complaining of how the heat had effected and he couldn't believe it, because he was 'such a pro.' (his words)
The best thing about the Hiker's Inn is that they had Directv which meant I could watch the Tour de France. And there was a crazy lightning storm this night. The power kept going out. And my cable box kept popping when lightning would strike. Approximately- if the delay between seeing lightning and hearing thunder is 5 seconds, that means the lightning strike was 1 mile away, so if the the delay is 1 second, the lightning is 0.2 miles away. Well this night, there were a couple of strikes that were almost simultaneous.
7/2 (9:30-5:10) 13.5 miles
GPS location
I'm in the Great Smoky Mountains!!!! The temperature is back to normal which is great and Tom is gone which feels weird.
Being in the Smokies felt really awesome. I just got this eery but cool feeling. A lot of people talk up the Smokies and it started off cool.
They really try to protect the wilderness in this park, so you have to sleep at the shelters. They don't want any tent camping, so that the vegetation remains unmolested. This will probably mean lots of interaction with people (having to be at the shelters). ehh.
I planned on staying at the first shelter in the park so I would only have a 10 mile hike coming off a zero, carrying 7 days of food (super heavy pack) and there was a big climb today; but when I got to that shelter, the water source was dry, so I decided to push another couple of miles to the next shelter so I could have water for the night.
When I got to the next shelter, there was a guy there. A seemingly very experienced hiker. He hiked a lot of places around the world. He hinted that he had a lot of money and traveled a lot. We thought it was only going to be us, but there was a late show by two others- a guy and a girl, around 9 PM. They were cool. I thought I was off to a good start with the shelter situation.
7/3 (7:30-12:15 and 2:45-4:45) 16.4 miles
GPS location
I effing hate shelters! The original dude woke up at 6 AM, starting talking to the girl, at full volume. She talked back. It woke the other dude up. Now all three of them were up by 6:15 being loud as hell. Banging crap around in their packs, talking loud as hell, laughing, etc. Dude, I really don't get how people could do that. (I was trying to sleep. It was 6 AM. Its not like it was 9 or 10 or something late. It was early as hell. Be quiet) That's how I feel anyway. Maybe I'm wrong, because lots of people seem to do it. I couldn't sleep through it, so I woke up too. Packed up my stuff very fast, didn't say a word to any of them, no eye contact and headed off. The girl asked, "does anyone want some hot coffee?" I totally ignored her, and I heard her mumble 'ok, jeez.' haha classic.
The guy who seemed like an experienced hiker asked soooo many questions- "where's the water source? how is it? whats the name of this shelter? how far did we go today? how far to the next shelter? are there any water sources coming up? what's the elevation like?" Dude, you're an experienced hiker. look at your damn map and figure it out yourself. (I so wanted to pull the line from Hangover on him- "Its on the corner of get a map and fuck off.") He was a dude in his late 40's, owned his own business, multimillionaire, hiked numerous places, and he was a helpless little jerk. (Damn, I really feel like half of my blog is complaining about people. What a whiny little bitch I am. I need to stay away from people as much as possible. Its gonna be hard in the Smokies with the shelter policy)
The other dude made a hilarious comment that I have to note. He was talking with guy above and well, I can't remember the whole convo but he said two ridiculous things- 1) "I've spent so much time in medicine" (truth, he's been a nurse for a few years. he monitors hospital patients heart monitors at night. he's a nurse, just not registered) and 2) "... mid life is 60 years old" (come on, 60 is not mid life) (sorry mom. but its ok, you're only 29)
Ok, so the plan for today was to go to the shelter that was 14.7 miles away. When I got there, there was a group of (I think they're called) Adventure boy scouts. Its for older kids who want to get involved. They had two adult leaders and there was about 7 of them (between 14-17 years old). Well, unsurprisingly, they were completed unprepared for the trip. They were all moaning and groaning. One of the kids stopped carrying his pack and the rest of the group took turns carrying their own pack plus this dudes. And they had only walked 5.3 miles that day. I knew immediately I did not want to sleep in a shelter with this group. When they got there, their leader had said they planned on hiking another 1.7 to the next shelter, so I was relieved. But as time went on, the kids complained more and more, that it was obvious that they weren't going to leave that shelter. The others behind me started to show up, and we started questioning them "what are you going to do, what are you going to do." (because obvious they were thinking the same thing I was thinking) I really stayed out of it, but it was funny cause some of the others were coaxing them towards a certain decision. I just wanted to know soon what they were doing, because either way, I was doing the opposite. They decided to stay, so we decided to push the extra 1.7 to the next shelter.
Well as soon as we started hiking for the next shelter, it started raining and lightning. (classic) But it did hold off long enough, me and this other dude were basically running to the shelter. We made it there dry, two others got stuck in the down pour. Burn. The guy who got completely soaked was the guy who talked all morning and asked too many questions. I loved it.
But anyway, throughout this process. We kind of bonded and I started subconsciously forgiving them for their morning rudeness. I've grown to really like the guy and the girl, still don't like the dude.
For some reason, my short's elastic band has been cutting into my skin and the sweat and grime is making it very uncomfortable. I tell you this because even though there were 7 people in the shelter, I still slept naked. I had to, to let the wounds heal. Classic.
7/4 (7:20-1:10) 10.8 miles Gatlinburg, TN
GPS location
I got another early start because those jerks are just early risers and they talk their ass off in the morning. This time instead of being pissed. I just greeted them with a "you f*ckers wake up too early." they laughed.
We were going to hit Clingmans Dome today. It is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail and it allowed for 360 views of the beautiful Smokies. It was awesome. The mountains and wilderness in this area is really awesome. I'm so glad I decided to come down south. But the most beautiful thing to me was a view before it. There was a blanket of clouds below the tops of the mountains. So when I first looked at it, it looked like an ocean with little islands scattered about. It took me a second to realize that it wasn't an ocean, it was clouds; and they weren't islands, they mountain tops. It was really cool. I didn't want to leave. I just wanted to sit there all day, not say a word, and just look at it. (just look at it, he he, sir! sir!)
So the group of us are chilling at the dome and we're like- we should take a group photo. So this Amish or fundamental Jew looking family comes walking through, and I ask him, "Would you mind taking a picture for us?" He replied, "Probably not." So in my mind, I was like cool this guy is gonna take the picture. But he kept walking. I was like hmmm. I guess he's not. (hindsight, I guess those Fundamental religion numbskulls don't touch electronics or something like that. but they drove a car up the mountain to get that view) As you can imagine, that was a joke amongst us for the day.
So the girl's name is Leslie and she turned out to be a really cool person. The kind of girl that I could see myself with (if thats even possible for me). She's into hiking and kayaking and stuff like that. Cool attitude, etc. She was hiking with the guy. She parked her vehicle at Newfound gap (where we were about to be) and the other dude parked his car at the Fontana Dam. Anyway, because her car was at that gap, which was the way into the nearest town, she offered me a ride. My plan was to hike 7 days straight through the Smokies without Zeroing or resupplying. But temptation. well, why say no, when it feels so good to say yes. Plus it was 4th of July. Plus I started craving beer, so I gladly accepted the ride into town. We kind of hiked together that day and she actually offered to take me back to her city (Knoxville) to hang out and party with her and her friends on the 4th. Then she would drive me back to the trail the next day. I was very tempted, but after much thought I said no. I didn't want to be at a party with people I don't know (I as well am socially inept), with only hiking clothes, 2 hours from the trail by car. Plus I didn't want to burden her with that long drive.
Leslie, the guy and me ate lunch together in Gatlinburg. They left. I bought beer at Walgreens, chilled in my hotel watching South Park, Swamp people and Mountain Men. (I love that you can buy beer at almost anywhere in other states- gas stations, convenience stores, pharmacy)
I took her offer for the ride to Gatlinburg because I thought it was on their way. I later found out that it wasn't. It was way out of their way, like an hour out of their way. I felt bad. It was very nice of them.
Gatlinburg is a tourist mecca down south. They had an amazing fireworks show. I was watching it while chilling in the hotel pool. (and by chilling, i mean letting the chlorine kill my body funk. (I took a shower before going into the pool))
Another thing, I fell asleep when I first got to my hotel after Leslie dropped me off. I woke up with a rash all over my body. I was worried. I had been drinking water recently without treating it (filtering it or using chemicals to kill bacteria and such). But I wasn't too worried about that because I don't think a rash is a symptom of water borne illness. I have been drinking unfiltered water for 2 reasons. One, because lots of people do it around here and they are not getting sick. Two, my filter is messed up, on the brink of breaking. That's another story which I'll tell later (on why its broke). So I woke up from my nap, walked around town. The longer I was away from my room, the more the rash went away. So I started thinking it was an allergy to either the soap in their shower or maybe the detergent they use on their sheets.
GPS location
This was Tom's last day on Trail. His daughter and son-in-law were picking him at Fontana Dam. He did an awesome time for his first time on the trail. My god, I remember our first trip on trail. 2005 with Russ and 12 year old David. We were a mess.
Tom and I had wanted to get an early start to beat the heat and also get to the Fontana Dam visitor center early. Its always so tempting to get into civilization to get food and drinks and stuff. And at this visitor center, they also had free showers. The showers even had soap and shampoo. Nice! Tom usually tries to start hiking before me in the morning so he can have the extra time to hike so he can finish at the same spot as me at the end of the day. As I was finishing packing up in the morning, he was heading off, and he asked me to wait for him at the road. There was a road crossing about 1.5 miles before the visitor center at the dam. At the time, I had no idea why he wanted me to wait. But I quickly asked, "Are you serious?" Halfway concerned about what he wanted, and halfway knowing I would never wait. He said no, and we left it at that. As I was walking, I thought maybe he wanted to triumphantly walk into the visitor center together and have his daughter see it. Haha. I was way off. One of the reasons why I would not have waited was because I would have been waiting for almost 2 hours, sitting at a road with nothing to do when I could be at the visitor drinking sodas, eating stuff and taking a shower. But when he finally got to the visitor center, I figured out why he wanted me to wait. He was afraid of getting lost at the road. I love him (and I miss him. I'm writing this a week later), but he was a little bit of a spazz when it came to things like that. Millions of people hike the AT, the path is completely beaten down and its usually marked pretty well by white paint on trees and objects that are easy to see. There is no reason to be worried about getting lost. But again it was his first trip, and he was an infinitely better hiker than me on my first trip.
So his daughter arrived at the visitor center and drove us to the nearby Fontana Dam Village, a vacation resort. He wanted them to meet me and vice versa, and have lunch together, so we did... Its complete wilderness around here. This area is surrounded by 3 national forests and the Great Smoky National Park. Even in the village, I got no cell phone reception.
We had lunch and they left. I planned on getting a tentsite for $20 at the villlage, but they were completely full. And it was a 4 mile walk back to the Fontana Dam to stay in that shelter for free. So being tired and still in the middle of the retched heat wave, I got suckered in paying for one of their expensive rooms. The resort was very nice. It had a good restaurant, a good general store that I used for resupply and an awesome pool area. Chlorine pools are great during the hike. They really help with the smell. Even after I take showers, I still have horrendous body odor, because I don't have deodorant out here. So the chlorine really helps kill all that madness. Plus it felt great being in a pool in the middle of the heat wave down here.
7/1 (0 miles) The Hiker's Inn
GPS location
I spent until 3 PM at the Fontana Dam Village resort. I had a reservation at the The Hiker's Inn for tonight, but I did not want to go there too early because they had no wifi, no cell reception and nothing really to do. So I arranged for a 3 PM pick up. I chilled most of the day at the pool. The resort had an amazing all you can eat buffet breakfast. It was great. Its a real high class place. It was $12. expensive, but I definitely got my monies worth.
From what people are telling me the heat wave is setting a lot of records in the area. Its pretty damn hot... Oh yea and on the talk of 'damn or dam.' Because we were at Fontana DAM, I kept reciting the line from the Beavis and Butthead movie- Do America, when they were at the Hoover Dam, and Beavis asked the tour guide, "Umm excuse me, is this like a, god dam?" That's pretty funny to me. Pretty much every name out here sets me off on a movie quote. If I'm around people, I just say them in my head so they don't think I'm weird, but then I wind up laughing at it, so that's probably worse. Cause now I'm just laughing out of the blue, which is probably seems more psychotic.
So the shuttle driver picked me up at 3 PM at the village and was going to bring me to the Hiker's Inn, but she wanted to swing by the Dam to see if her other pick up was there, another hiker staying at the Hiker's Inn. He was there, looking dirty and tired and had his gear all over the place. So he got in the car. (This is fat jesus by the way) And my first impression, was OMG this guy's trail name should be Alan, or Zach Galifianakis or best yet, fat jesus. So anyway, he hops in the back seat. And asks me, "Are you hiking North or South?" I replied north. He obnoxiously booed me, like "Boo, boo, boo, boo" Like four boo's. Followed by "South bounders are better." I guessed he expected me to say something. I didn't. He said, "I was just kidding. You better get use to it." Man, I didn't like this guy already. Then I said, "yea man, I really don't care. It's not a competition."
Ok so part of the package of staying at this place was that they do your laundry then take you to a nearby town for dinner and resupply at a market. So we get to the Inn and have about 2 hours to chill before she was going to take us to town. I fell asleep. She woke me up and asked, "are you ready to go into town?" I replied of course and left my room. Then fat jesus was waiting outside and he said, "Yea, you better have been ready to go to town." Damn this guy... He wasn't mean or a bully. I think he was just socially inept, and maybe he thought a little too highly of himself.
On the ride into town, he was smuggly talking about how he runs a hedge fund and his business has offices all over and how he wanted to buy this place on the AT for 4 million dollars, because he could do so much of a better job running it than current management.
So we go to dinner at this awesome Mexican restaurant. It was exactly like the Mexican place in Hiawassee, it had to have been the same owner. I totally made no attempt to talk to him at dinner and answered all of his questions with one or two word answers. He kept complaining of how the heat had effected and he couldn't believe it, because he was 'such a pro.' (his words)
The best thing about the Hiker's Inn is that they had Directv which meant I could watch the Tour de France. And there was a crazy lightning storm this night. The power kept going out. And my cable box kept popping when lightning would strike. Approximately- if the delay between seeing lightning and hearing thunder is 5 seconds, that means the lightning strike was 1 mile away, so if the the delay is 1 second, the lightning is 0.2 miles away. Well this night, there were a couple of strikes that were almost simultaneous.
7/2 (9:30-5:10) 13.5 miles
GPS location
I'm in the Great Smoky Mountains!!!! The temperature is back to normal which is great and Tom is gone which feels weird.
Being in the Smokies felt really awesome. I just got this eery but cool feeling. A lot of people talk up the Smokies and it started off cool.
They really try to protect the wilderness in this park, so you have to sleep at the shelters. They don't want any tent camping, so that the vegetation remains unmolested. This will probably mean lots of interaction with people (having to be at the shelters). ehh.
I planned on staying at the first shelter in the park so I would only have a 10 mile hike coming off a zero, carrying 7 days of food (super heavy pack) and there was a big climb today; but when I got to that shelter, the water source was dry, so I decided to push another couple of miles to the next shelter so I could have water for the night.
When I got to the next shelter, there was a guy there. A seemingly very experienced hiker. He hiked a lot of places around the world. He hinted that he had a lot of money and traveled a lot. We thought it was only going to be us, but there was a late show by two others- a guy and a girl, around 9 PM. They were cool. I thought I was off to a good start with the shelter situation.
7/3 (7:30-12:15 and 2:45-4:45) 16.4 miles
GPS location
I effing hate shelters! The original dude woke up at 6 AM, starting talking to the girl, at full volume. She talked back. It woke the other dude up. Now all three of them were up by 6:15 being loud as hell. Banging crap around in their packs, talking loud as hell, laughing, etc. Dude, I really don't get how people could do that. (I was trying to sleep. It was 6 AM. Its not like it was 9 or 10 or something late. It was early as hell. Be quiet) That's how I feel anyway. Maybe I'm wrong, because lots of people seem to do it. I couldn't sleep through it, so I woke up too. Packed up my stuff very fast, didn't say a word to any of them, no eye contact and headed off. The girl asked, "does anyone want some hot coffee?" I totally ignored her, and I heard her mumble 'ok, jeez.' haha classic.
The guy who seemed like an experienced hiker asked soooo many questions- "where's the water source? how is it? whats the name of this shelter? how far did we go today? how far to the next shelter? are there any water sources coming up? what's the elevation like?" Dude, you're an experienced hiker. look at your damn map and figure it out yourself. (I so wanted to pull the line from Hangover on him- "Its on the corner of get a map and fuck off.") He was a dude in his late 40's, owned his own business, multimillionaire, hiked numerous places, and he was a helpless little jerk. (Damn, I really feel like half of my blog is complaining about people. What a whiny little bitch I am. I need to stay away from people as much as possible. Its gonna be hard in the Smokies with the shelter policy)
The other dude made a hilarious comment that I have to note. He was talking with guy above and well, I can't remember the whole convo but he said two ridiculous things- 1) "I've spent so much time in medicine" (truth, he's been a nurse for a few years. he monitors hospital patients heart monitors at night. he's a nurse, just not registered) and 2) "... mid life is 60 years old" (come on, 60 is not mid life) (sorry mom. but its ok, you're only 29)
Ok, so the plan for today was to go to the shelter that was 14.7 miles away. When I got there, there was a group of (I think they're called) Adventure boy scouts. Its for older kids who want to get involved. They had two adult leaders and there was about 7 of them (between 14-17 years old). Well, unsurprisingly, they were completed unprepared for the trip. They were all moaning and groaning. One of the kids stopped carrying his pack and the rest of the group took turns carrying their own pack plus this dudes. And they had only walked 5.3 miles that day. I knew immediately I did not want to sleep in a shelter with this group. When they got there, their leader had said they planned on hiking another 1.7 to the next shelter, so I was relieved. But as time went on, the kids complained more and more, that it was obvious that they weren't going to leave that shelter. The others behind me started to show up, and we started questioning them "what are you going to do, what are you going to do." (because obvious they were thinking the same thing I was thinking) I really stayed out of it, but it was funny cause some of the others were coaxing them towards a certain decision. I just wanted to know soon what they were doing, because either way, I was doing the opposite. They decided to stay, so we decided to push the extra 1.7 to the next shelter.
Well as soon as we started hiking for the next shelter, it started raining and lightning. (classic) But it did hold off long enough, me and this other dude were basically running to the shelter. We made it there dry, two others got stuck in the down pour. Burn. The guy who got completely soaked was the guy who talked all morning and asked too many questions. I loved it.
But anyway, throughout this process. We kind of bonded and I started subconsciously forgiving them for their morning rudeness. I've grown to really like the guy and the girl, still don't like the dude.
For some reason, my short's elastic band has been cutting into my skin and the sweat and grime is making it very uncomfortable. I tell you this because even though there were 7 people in the shelter, I still slept naked. I had to, to let the wounds heal. Classic.
7/4 (7:20-1:10) 10.8 miles Gatlinburg, TN
GPS location
I got another early start because those jerks are just early risers and they talk their ass off in the morning. This time instead of being pissed. I just greeted them with a "you f*ckers wake up too early." they laughed.
We were going to hit Clingmans Dome today. It is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail and it allowed for 360 views of the beautiful Smokies. It was awesome. The mountains and wilderness in this area is really awesome. I'm so glad I decided to come down south. But the most beautiful thing to me was a view before it. There was a blanket of clouds below the tops of the mountains. So when I first looked at it, it looked like an ocean with little islands scattered about. It took me a second to realize that it wasn't an ocean, it was clouds; and they weren't islands, they mountain tops. It was really cool. I didn't want to leave. I just wanted to sit there all day, not say a word, and just look at it. (just look at it, he he, sir! sir!)
So the group of us are chilling at the dome and we're like- we should take a group photo. So this Amish or fundamental Jew looking family comes walking through, and I ask him, "Would you mind taking a picture for us?" He replied, "Probably not." So in my mind, I was like cool this guy is gonna take the picture. But he kept walking. I was like hmmm. I guess he's not. (hindsight, I guess those Fundamental religion numbskulls don't touch electronics or something like that. but they drove a car up the mountain to get that view) As you can imagine, that was a joke amongst us for the day.
So the girl's name is Leslie and she turned out to be a really cool person. The kind of girl that I could see myself with (if thats even possible for me). She's into hiking and kayaking and stuff like that. Cool attitude, etc. She was hiking with the guy. She parked her vehicle at Newfound gap (where we were about to be) and the other dude parked his car at the Fontana Dam. Anyway, because her car was at that gap, which was the way into the nearest town, she offered me a ride. My plan was to hike 7 days straight through the Smokies without Zeroing or resupplying. But temptation. well, why say no, when it feels so good to say yes. Plus it was 4th of July. Plus I started craving beer, so I gladly accepted the ride into town. We kind of hiked together that day and she actually offered to take me back to her city (Knoxville) to hang out and party with her and her friends on the 4th. Then she would drive me back to the trail the next day. I was very tempted, but after much thought I said no. I didn't want to be at a party with people I don't know (I as well am socially inept), with only hiking clothes, 2 hours from the trail by car. Plus I didn't want to burden her with that long drive.
Leslie, the guy and me ate lunch together in Gatlinburg. They left. I bought beer at Walgreens, chilled in my hotel watching South Park, Swamp people and Mountain Men. (I love that you can buy beer at almost anywhere in other states- gas stations, convenience stores, pharmacy)
I took her offer for the ride to Gatlinburg because I thought it was on their way. I later found out that it wasn't. It was way out of their way, like an hour out of their way. I felt bad. It was very nice of them.
Gatlinburg is a tourist mecca down south. They had an amazing fireworks show. I was watching it while chilling in the hotel pool. (and by chilling, i mean letting the chlorine kill my body funk. (I took a shower before going into the pool))
Another thing, I fell asleep when I first got to my hotel after Leslie dropped me off. I woke up with a rash all over my body. I was worried. I had been drinking water recently without treating it (filtering it or using chemicals to kill bacteria and such). But I wasn't too worried about that because I don't think a rash is a symptom of water borne illness. I have been drinking unfiltered water for 2 reasons. One, because lots of people do it around here and they are not getting sick. Two, my filter is messed up, on the brink of breaking. That's another story which I'll tell later (on why its broke). So I woke up from my nap, walked around town. The longer I was away from my room, the more the rash went away. So I started thinking it was an allergy to either the soap in their shower or maybe the detergent they use on their sheets.
