As I explained yesterday, I am took my first zero at Diana and Joey's today. It was a very relaxing day and just what I needed. The weather did not materialize to the extremes that were predicted and it was actually sunny most of the day. This is the view I had of the action from my bed.
This is the view from the porch looking over to the Smokies. Clouds gathered and it may have been worse up higher. It is supposed to possibly storm overnight tonight and taper off to rain and then clear skies as the day continues tomorrow. My plan is to start, rain or shine, in the morning and get a full day of hiking in tomorrow.
I did my resupply and haven't been photographing them as much as I did last summer...sorry about that! I get it all packed up and totally forget to get the picture beforehand. I do want to show two of my favs though. My dad sent me the pink cookies that I grew up getting in Southern Illinois that I LOVE! Also, I want to thank Dennis who sent me a care package with large containers of the Mountain House meals. I had no idea it existed and it's worked wonderfully! I recommend it. They take up a lot less space in my pack too! I just boil the water, put it in the ziplocs, seal it, and place it back in the empty pot with the lid on it to rehydrate for about 10mins and they're perfect! Thank you Dennnis!
On my zero days, I usually load all my photos from the previous section and create a slideshow along with posting any videos I took. With the weather and a couple other things happening, the internet connection was pretty slow, so it took all day to load the photos. I was just happy to get them loaded. I had just one video of Amicalola Falls on the approach trail that I'll just load next time I bounce my computer to myself in about a month. I just haven't been taking much video out here and I forgot to video the start on Springer Mtn.
I was able to catch up on my correspondence, Skype my nephew, and relax too. A perfect zero! Diana and Joey have kept me in a constant state of fullness with wonderful food. Their family even came over and Diana's mom Irene made a wonderful dinner. I was totally spoiled! I mean this is real southern hospitality. Complete strangers bringing me in like family and all. I really felt like I was back in Southern Illinois where I grew up.
Here I am with Irene who brought me flowers from her garden including one I proudly noticed from trail which is Tennessee's state flower, the iris. Irene even has it on her vest. I'm also holding the homemade taco salad lunch she made for me to take on trail. I think it weighs 3lbs, but she said it has a lot of protein, ha!
And of course I got a chance to catch up on some tv. Most importantly, I am caught up on Survivor which I can only watch the most recent episode on a laptop...the cbs app delays the episodes a week or two...those bastards! So no one tell me what happens as I'll be finding out a couple weeks behind. I'm going to try to get a couple more shows in tonight! Just a wonderful zero!
THANK YOU to Diana, Joey, and all your family!
