IN ERWIN, TENNESSEE

Hi gang, I've made it to Erwin, TN, mile 339. Funny story about Erwin - three weeks before starting the Trail, i found trailjournals.com where hikers keep online diaries, and followed the progress of this one kid Dynamite (looks like Napolean Dynamite) who had started in early March. When Elizabeth and I drove down here over a month ago, we stopped in Erwin for gas and to check the town out. Drove by where the Trail comes out of the woods and who should pop out of the woods just at that moment but Dynamite! So I yelled out the car window at him "Dynamite! I know you, been following you on the internet!" He was a little freaked out, and declined my offer of a ride to town...

So, 33 days later, here I am. Am staying in the bunkhouse at a neat hostel called Uncle Johnny's. Perfect day to be here too, since it just started raining about an hour before I arrived. Should be clear when I leave tomorrow or the next day. I may try river rafting here tomorrow if the weather is nice and the prices are decent. As soon as I arrived, I caught Johnny's ride to town to the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, which proved to be nice timing. Also got a Tennessee keychain for the pack as this is my only town stop in the state.

Had great weather this past section - the two days I spent in Hot Springs allowed me to miss the freezing rain last Monday night, and its been warm since. Some of my hiker buddies were out here that night and said there was sheet ice inside and outside their tents. C-Bass and I tried to catch up to our buddies, and I managed to do it on the third day, but it meant pulling long miles. Had my personal record of 17.4 miles on Thursday - 15.5 of those miles were done before 3pm so I could make it to a gap where a group of locals were cooking hamburgers until that time. Caught Slo-Goin and Franklin that day too, so added bonus.

The trail went over a series of balds in this section, and i got to cowboy camp (sans tent) on top of one - nothing like waking up in the middle of the night to see stars from bed. Also hung out on top of Big Bald for 4 hours yesterday afternoon to catch some sun and enjoy lunch. Amazing views of the upcoming Roan Mtn Highlands which I will hit this next week. Today, on the 12 mile trek to the hostel, I walked through a small forest fire!

As for my feet, I've come to think its a reinjuring of a sprain I had in high school. I've kept the ankle wrapped in ace bandages and its been slowly healing - still some soreness, but definitely better than last weekend. Its one of those things where I'm going to keep going and it will either get better or worse, we shall see. But I anticipate no problems leaving here on time.

BTW - Mom, you can keep sending cookies - they are easy to finish off at stops so I don't carry them. When I was saying send food to Elizabeth for parceling, I was referring more to folks who want to send trail mix or dried fruit and such. But thank you all, its been really delicious!

Ok, will write more later...