Miss Janet's Place, Erwin, TN



(Un-?)fortunately, this will not be another post in the previous line of rhetorical posts.  I feel like I should just put some basic idle thoughts down, and do a more standard post for once.



So, I am in Erwin, TN, which is about 330 miles into the trip.  I'm including a photo of me from 4/30 I think, which would have been in the Great Smoky Mtns... I think it is on the second day, before the terrain moves to pine trees and then some beech trees.  The background is more what we'd been hiking in the whole time, and the bald was unique - there hadn't been too many bald peaks, but from the Smokys on there have been a fair number of them.



I'm hanging out at this hostel for a full day off because I don't have far to go until the next hostel - gotta go to that one because it'll be right before Trail Days in Damascus, VA, and I can get a ride up from there.  I'm coming back to the hostel though, so I don't miss a 80 mile section of the trail.  A lot of people have been doing 20 mile days or more to try to get there by time on foot... that isn't my style, I'd rather take it easy and enjoy the views, the people, the camping.  I finally had too much food (like 13lbs for 4-5 days!) so I gave a lot of food to Trailbait because she just recently acquired her hiker's appetite.  Funny - I had the appetite from the first day.  She made an awesome brownie dish for me and other ppl who shared food w/ her though, when she got here.  I didn't just give her food though - I made her carry it with her.  A lot of people are patronizingly kind to women, esp 18-yr old Trailbait.  I'm trying to make sure I treat everyone out here as competent individuals, no differently if I can.



I saw something interesting walking around the city:  a campaign sticker for Bush's presidency on traffic light pole - from 1992!  I also went to a Sonic for the first time, which was pretty cool.  And we treated outselves to a movie - they had a movie theatre here with *2* cinemas, so they can show 2 movies at once!  We saw Spiderman 3.  It was okay... a little weird at times.  It was a strange experience going out to the movies.  Hell, even jogging on the trail (like towards the stream by camp, or the privy by a shelter) is disorienting because things are moving so fast.



I made a pot lid out of metal from a stove wind-screen.  I spent a couple hours on it, between laying out the design, cutting it w/ a pair of tin-snips I got my hands on, and fashioning it all together.  It is sturdy, quick, smart (there are a few ways to take the lid off w/o burning yourself on the unreliable flame from a denatured ethanol stove), and more importantly - I made it! 



I took a shower today, which is weird because I took one yesterday... I didn't have much else to do, and I'm always thinking of showers when I am on the trail... so I took a shower, for the hell of it.  Pretty silly.  When I am in town I also eat for fun.  Like I'm trying to get all the local establishments, local brews... and then some macrobrews and macro establishments too.  I was working on a half-gallon of mint chocolate chip a little earlier, and someone came back with Sonic burgers for everyone randomly, and I bought a bunch of beers for people... this was all aroud noon.  Strange eating habits here.



As far as the feet go, they've been pretty good.  I joke that greetings out here go "Hey, how are your feet?"  "Good, and yours?"  "Mmm... been worse, can't complain."  I have perennial blisters on my two smallest toes on each feet, which are slowly turning callous.  I recently got some nasty small blisteres *under* my toes... they burst and bled a little, and are impossible to treat.  I got a "blood blister" I think, which was a scary collection of red splotches on my right foot.  It's going away though.  It really hasn't been too bad.



Since the Smokys I've been able to just fly up hills... I still get tired at some points in the day, but I've been able to go up steep hills with a 30lb pack faster than some people walk casually on flats - for extended periods of time... but more on that later!



I'm very happy because I am swapping sleeping bags now, and I'm on my summer one.  I also have some summer clothes, which means I can wear actual short sleeve tee shirts!  I guess that is news for now, small bits here and there.  Please do comment, ask questions, anything.  It's time to find some dinner... maybe Erwin Burrito!