Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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April 28-29, Hot Springs, NC, Alpine Court Motel

    What a wonderful, beautiful weekend it's been! Tony drove down on Saturday to meet me here for the weekend, since it was my birthday. Although I had 13 miles to walk in, I still got here a couple hours before he did, so I had a chance to clean off a little of the trail funk. I even got started on taking a nap when he burst open the door & greeted me with a big hug! I guess in towns as small as Hot Springs, one doesn't need to worry about locking the motel rooms.

    So, yesterday we did very little other than eat & talk! We walked down to an Italian place for supper, where I actually stopped eating my meal when I was only half finished. I'm not sure how, but I guess all those snacks filled me up too much. I had room for their strawberry torte dessert - it was delicious. And today I have leftover cheese pizza in the cooler to snack on - yum!

    Speaking of snacks, Tony & I actually woke up around 2:00 last night & split a Subway sandwich. At 2:00 A.M.! I don't think I've ever done that before, but then again, I've never hiked like this before. What's funny is that he was just as hungry as I was.

    Today was a really great day, too. We started out with a fabulous breakfast at the Smokey Mountain Cafe & then wandered down to the Presbyterian Church across the street from our motel. I talked to a couple other hikers yesterday & knew they were planning to go as well, so the four of us bolstered their attendance to about 10, I think. The preacher gave a "railroad sermon" - he's clearly a big fan of trains & the railroad is also a major employer here in Hot Springs. So it was interesting to hear about endurance & pushing on, and just as applicable to hiking as to trains, I think.

    After church, Tony gave me one of the best birthday presents I believe I've ever had. He drove me twenty miles away to the closest town, Marshall, where they have an actual grocery store, with more than 2 aisles, which has been the trend in trail towns. I could barely stop drooling in the produce section! I haven't had a fresh vegetable or fruit in a month - only dehydrated stuff I carry in my pack. So I loaded up with "first day out" food - a couple of apples, baby carrots and a tomato & cucumber for my tabouli the first night. I also got some chocolate cake! I have been dreaming about cake all week and none of the restaurants here seem to have any, so I chose a dessert at the store which had layers of chocolate fudge brownies with cream cheese, covered with chocolate mousse and lots of candy sprinkles. It was SO delicious. Of course, I picked up some other snacks while we were there, since I couldn't resist the lure of so many delicious treats - chips, dip, gummy bears, fancy gorp, tortillas, snapple, string cheese and I forget what else. I felt like I'd won a shopping spree. It was so much fun!

    And now the day has come to any end & we're watching the National Geographic Channel which has "real life survivors" on. I've tried to get caught up on the news from hone, & I've gone through the mail (and bills!) that Tony brought, but I still feel like there's so much to hear about. The weekend has gone so fast. I can't believe it's already time to be getting back to the trail, and work for Tony. It's going to be hard to say good-bye in the morning, but I guess it won't be that long before I'm in Virginia & I'll get to see him again.