[at-l] Our Merry Christmas

[DanandGailSC@aol.com]

Instead of a traditional Christmas, Dan had a week off so we took off to hike 
on the Florida Trail.  We had a wonderful time, although the temps were not 
very Florida-like.  We had freezing nights.  Since I brought our 45* sleeping 
bag, we huddled together at night to keep warm!   We hiked all of the Florida 
Trail in the Ocala National Forest...70 miles in all.  Jon Phipps (Wanchor) 
and Joan (Blue Trail) invited us to their Christmas dinner and then did our 
shuttle, leaving our car at the northern end for us when we finished.  That 
was so nice.  And, of course, dinner with fellow hikers meant great 
conversation and fun (Not to mention...good food)  The terrain was totally 
flat, and sandy.   The scenery changed almost daily from almost desert to 
deciduous forests.  Jon recommended we stop at Juniper Springs and canoe down 
the Juniper, seven miles in all.   The water was crystal clear with a sandy 
bottom, and palm trees and ferns lined the sides of the river.   One area we 
hiked through looked like Africa, with tall trees, but only grass for the 
undergrowth.  There were signs of forest fires everywhere.  We heard later 
that the fires had been a year and a half ago.  Our next to the last day we 
stopped at a local general store (Store 88) where they let us pitch our tent 
behind the store that night.  There were $2 hot showers, free AYCE spagetti, 
and internet access.  We ate our spagetti (after our showers) in front of a 
blazing fire place.  I had been so cold all week it was nice to thaw out.  
And the hospitality was reminscient of my AT days.  After we finished our 
backpack we headed to Springer Mountain in GA for a New Year's party.  Pog, 
Coosa, Dee from the list were there.  The next day I met a man at the shelter 
that I had gone to school with in a tiny boarding school in the Amazon 
jungle.  What are the odds of that happening!? . He  was Ynot2K from 99.   
About 30 people in all were there, although not part of our group.   We 
brought junk food, but Dee and Pog brought fun stuff.  We had sparklers, and 
tiaras, and noisemakers.  Dee was wearing these 2000 glasses that glowed in 
the dark.  Coosa brought Fosters which she shared with some other hikers.  
She also brought chili earlier which all up there enjoyed.   I played Auld 
Lang Syne at midnight on my recorder, waking up a Barred Owl.   For some 
reason I don't think he was thrilled.  I bought the recorder the day we left 
for FL and learned how to play it on the trail.  At the end of the week I had 
the C scale down, and would play the scale and call it, "chasing away 
alligators" music, or "alerting deer hunters" music or whatever occasion came 
up.   Dan was very encouraging and would say, "That was a beautful scale, 
dear," even though he heard that scale a zillion times throughout the week!  
     Sorry this post is longer than usual.   You don't HAVE to read it...just 
delete it (I know, NOW YOU  tell me, right?).  
     Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Gutsy
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