Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey
May 30
Big Spring Shelter to Wallace Gap......................................................................6 miles
We got up early, again, for a downhill sprint to Wallace Gap. We made great time and got there by 9:30, and who should be sitting there at the road, out in the middle of nowhere, but Taz. Sitting on a guardrail, smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee. He had met Tom and Tom the day before and got a ride with them into Franklin. They then dropped him back at the road that morning. We ask him what the heck he was doing there, and his response was
"Waiting for you." He figured we hadn't made it that far yet, and was hoping to hook up with us again. We commented on "what if we hadn't made it there that morning" and he said between drags on his cigarette, "I didn't have anything better to do, I was prepared to wait all day."
We all headed to Rainbow Springs Campground, with a short stop at the chapel and cemetery, a pause for reflection. Checked out the campground and decided to head into town. By this time we hadn't seen a real bed since we left Amacalola Falls, and the sound of a motel room, with a real bed, air conditioning, T.V. and restaurants nearby, was calling to us. The sirens song that we couldn't refuse. We called a cab, decided to splurge instead of taking a chance on hitching. We were not big on the idea of hitch hiking, who knows what kind of nut might pick us up.
Checked in at the Franklin Hotel, then took a shower. This was heaven. Before we could get out for lunch, Taz brought us an appetizer, two cold beers. Now here is a man with his priorities straight. While Vicki cleaned up, I had a phone call into the company that made the piece of junk water purifier that had gone defunct after just a few days. I described the problem and was promised a new filter cartridge. It would be mailed and waiting for me at the Fontana Dam Post Office. Well, what do you know, this was a good company after all.
After we cleaned up we then went across the street for lunch at the diner. Good food. Got some laundry done, then went to explore Franklin. Nice town. Clean. Interesting little history museum on main street. Then to the Tartan Museum. We are very interested in just about everything and believe that the best way to learn is to ask questions. So we engaged the curator of the museum with a few questions. Discovered that he had been stationed at Ft. Sill, Ok. Ft. Sill and Lawton, where we are from, back into each other and are just about interchangeable. It's amazing, everywhere we go we meet someone who was stationed at Ft. Sill. Interesting about the Scottish history in the region. Then across the street to one of the best little mineral museums and rock shops I've ever seen. (and I've seen the mineral museum at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.) This was a great little place.
Back to the motel, then grocery shopping just down the street, I remembered the cold cereal. Got it. Later walked to the Western Sizzlin' for an "all we could eat". Simple pleasures. A real bed, a shower, clean hair, clean clothes, good food-wonderful.
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