April 14 - 4.2 / 344.1 miles

Towns...you want to leave them but for some reason you can't. None of us planned to hang around the hostel and Erwin today; however, we did.

I didn't get too much sleep last night. I expected the snoring. I didn't expect the guy sleeping in the bunk above me to be so loud. Normally when people roll over while sleeping they are somewhat quiet. This guy on the other hand would roll over and then plop himself into his new position. I was waiting for the bunk to break and have a 250 pound guy crash on top of me. I got out of bed around 7ish and made some oatmeal thinking we would hit the trail soon after. As the others slept under a bridge by the Nolichucky, Stickerbush and Danger Mouse strolled over to the hostel first. We discussed going to get breakfast in town and concluded it sounded like the best idea. At 9, all of us were in the hostel's bus heading into town. We were dropped off at a local gas station/deli/convenient store. I got a tenderloin biscuit with eggs and cheese, onion rings, and a sweet tea. All of that was less than 4 dollars and delicious.

The shuttle took us back to the hostel. We figured we would spend some time sitting by the river and then get on the trail around lunch. Well, lunch turned to 1, then 2, then 4, etc. Around 4 we ordered pizza. Five of us polished off 3 healthy large pizzas without a problem. DM and I then continued our chess game which we started earlier in the day. Wanting to get on the trail, Gilly was the first out around 5. DM and I finished our game (with me winning but DM gave me some moves back). Myself, Dark Star, Skywalker then got on the trail around 6. Currently we are waiting on SB and DM, but they said they might wait until the morning.

The four miles in were a pretty tough climb uphill. Sitting in the sun all day drained me so I was ready to quit as soon as we got to the first shelter. Gilly and Super Mike, who left around 4, were both at the shelter waiting. All of us snacked a little and are getting ready for bed.

Smile and introduce yourself to someone new. You never know what kind of impact it will have.

To the three of you who might actually still be reading this blog, have a good night.