BANANAS

Hello from Staunton, Virginia, which has at least one leg up on Philly with its free wireless. We're about halfway to Dahlonega, Georgia - the first gold rush town in the US and the initial cause of the Cherokees being force-marched to Oklahoma during winter. We'll get a nice dinner there. And then a quick ride to nearby Amicalola Lodge at the base of Springer Mountain.

Had an interesting dream last night where I was at the start of the trail, which turned out to be an ageing hippy commune on a palm-treed beach. Everyone was living in cool little bech shacks and tents, and walking around barefoot to toughen their feet. I met up with a 90something Ed Garvey (the now-dead author of a popular Trail book in 1971) who showed me around, pointing out the places where other historic AT figures lived and spent time. Elizabeth was going to do the first 40 miles or so with me, but we needed more food and the only thing around were wasting bananas. What all this says, I don't know, other than I need to stop talking and reading and thinking about the Trail, and get out there already.