Day 8

Zero Day #1

Mile 69.6

Hiawassee, GA

Today was a good day of resting. Took it easy all day, laying around the motel room, eating, and cleaning/drying gear.

Everything is now mostly dry, which is basically as good as it gets on the AT. The main thing is I have clean clothes, and have had at least one shower. There is at least one more in the immediate future. Even if the bathroom is blue (thank you 1970s).

I sent my cold weather clothes ahead to Franklin, NC to the Budget Inn there so that saves me 2 pounds for the next 3 days. In my world, that is cause for celebration. I will pick them back up for the smokies and then they go home until the Whites in New Hampshire.

Everything is laid out in the room ready to pack up in the morning for our 9 am shuttle back to the trail. I have plenty of food for 3 days and I will be getting 2 new bottles of Gatorade before we leave.

I love using Gatorade bottles for water bottles. You don't have to wash them. When they get dirty just buy new ones. They even throw in free Gatorade with the new bottle!

The shin is rested up after being iced twice today. I will be watching it carefully tomorrow just in case. The blister on the toe feels better but has not gone down any. That may have to get popped if it starts bothering me. Other than that, I am in great shape to keep hiking. Very blessed so far as many others have had some serious issues. One guy had blisters so bad he had to go to a walk in clinic and all they could say was "dang! " so I am doing good.

Tomorrow we will leave Georgia and into NC. One state down, 13 to go. I'm excited to make some more progress. We still have a LONG way to go but every little step and every milestone adds up.

Tomorrow will be a good day.