Hello all of you out there, Brandon here to tell you the things that have gone down since we've last updated. So a few things have happened since the bloody Budget Inn. We awoke for the 9 am shuttle but it was full so we hitched ourselves back up to Dick's Creek for our 12 mile day, it was a rough transition back into the hiking life with our bellies bloated and our bodies clean. We transitioned nicely into it after that day. We met back up with our buddy ol' pal Adaline and camped at Muskrat Shelter that evening. The next day we decided we had the energy to make it 16 more miles to Betty Creek where we met many an interesting folk and saw some people we had already met. The hiking was beautiful, clear skies all day. From Betty Creek we headed to Siler Bald where the Trail Witch resided. Her trail name is PegLeg but she was a retired Marine who is carrying the pack of a comrade who died in the field. Her feet had become swollen from two consecutive 20 mile days and she sat in the shelter saying the craziest things. We put up with her kookiness to keep put of the massive storm that was suppose to erupt that night. PegLeg told ghost stories and reminded us that the trail isn't just a walk in the woods but it holds real dangers outside of bears. She also Gabe us pur trail names. Bridget follows every statement with laughter so she was named Giggles, I wear a red and white striped beanie and wear glasses so I am now Waldo hahaha! From Siler Bald we hiked 17 miles to Wesser Bald, our late stop put us there at 7 at night, God that was awful but we'll worth it because the next morning we only walked 7 miles downhill to be at the Nantahalla Outdoor Center. We idiotically booked for today however and it was yesterday when we made it here so we went into Franklin North Carolina to add to our resupply @ the NOC. A hiker reffered us to a gentleman named David who lives in Franklin to get us from point A to point B. David is an interesting man, he is in his 80s, he drives a supped-up black Jeep Rubicon and he formerly worked for NASA. Now David unofficially shuttles hikers because he loves what we love for. Our ride back was an interesting one as well, David stopped at a meat processing plant to pick up some EXTREMELY fresh and cheap sausage. Then he took us to Asian King which is a buffet of chinese food. We swelled up until we took on the appearances of 7 month pregnant women. David then drove us to a motel. We split a room at another budget inn with Adaline because she needed to rent a car to go to a wedding. And for those of you worrying that she won't finish, she left as psyched as she was when we met her so she's coming right on back. Her birthday was yesterday so she, bridgey, and myself went to a brewery. They drank and we listened to live music. Another hiker by the name of forrest performed live for us in our motel room. We then crashed, it was a long day believe me. Today we headed back in Adalines rental car to the NOC and we checked in to our room and said our farewells. We cracked down on our plan for the next five days and rested. Today was uneventful but definitely needed if we don't want to break on the trail. Seeing this much society and having this much accessibility becomes very tempting and makes you wary. The sooner we can get the hell out of this hostel and into the Smilies the better. Gatlinburg, NC is our next pitstop for food. Five or six days out. Until then write us those letters freunden. Motivation comes from you. We're just the idiots dumb enough to take on the task. And as always we are super psyched! It's just one foot right in front of the other, right? Bonne nuit
-Brandon (Waldo)
