[at-l] N. Georgia HIke - October 19

October 19
It is hard getting up in a room when no light is coming in. We had the curtain drawn  and even
though I heard Ron's watch alarm ring I found it exceedingly easy to go back to sleep for a while
longer. I think we trickled down to the hotel's pretty decent breakfast  a bit past 08:30 and we
lingered over our donuts, bagels, fruit, coffee and juice for quite some time before returning to
our room to sort through our stuff and see what we needed to get.  The morning passed, housekeeping
knocked on our door and we told them we would be out of the room shortly so they could give it a
cleaning, and then we were off on our errands. We visited a dollar store, pharmacy and grocery store
in short order. Then, we went to the not-so-fast-food Hardees to get some lunch.  I suppose it was a
little after noon when we came back to the hotel with our spoils. We dropped them off and took our
lunches to the back patio to munch upon and chat.  Then we had a little excitement. Our hotel
keycards refused to work. We had to come back in through the main entrance and go to our room. Of
course, the keycards did not work there either.  The hotel staff at the front desk fixed whatever
needed fixing and we were able to return to our room satiated and ready for more errands.

The afternoon errands were really simple: go to the post office and mail stuff home. John and Ron
really went to town and boxed up a good amount of gear that had not been used or they did not think
would be used again. I sent a lot of extra food home along with a few pieces of clothing and the
Feathered Friends sleeping bag cover. After all, the weather report seemed to suggest more of the
same if not a bit warmer for the next couple of days, and more importantly, nights.

After sending the boxes out along with some post cards I went on my trek for Jack's Barbershop. I
had an address and I found the right road, but I did not find the barber. Maybe I did not go far
enough up the road, but I wasn't happy walking along the narrow shoulder so I came back into town
and began searching for another place we thought we had seen the day before. I walked down the main
drag to Dairy Queen, had a blizzard, and learned that the place I was seeking was almost exactly
where I thought it was but on the other side of the road. When I finally got there they were not
taking any more costumers that day. I could have gone first thing the following morning, but since I
did not know what our plans were (i.e., when Karen or Dee wanted to drop us off at the trailhead) I
did not make an appointment. When I got back to the hotel I snipped some of the longest hairs
myself. I hope I don't look too goofy.

Dee arrived around 18:00. Among her other persuits she is a trail runner. She had just completed a
trail run from Dick's Creek Gap (Hiawassee) to Addis Gap and back. That's a distance of about 12
miles and she did it in 3 hours.  I managed to cover that same distance, over two days and just
going one way instead of round-trip, in about 3 hours perhaps a little less.  Wow! She went at a
4MPH pace. The best I've hiked with a day pack is probably the Big Sky Meadows to Manasas Gap
Shelter down to that little road with the Wednesday PATC hikers. As I recall that was a hike of 11
miles and I think I finished in just under 5 hours. Even that is nearly twice as slow as Dee. 

Karen arrived a little later and after they settled into their room we walked over to the Front
Porch which is a new italian style resteraunt.   When you have hungry people, especially a person
who has just run about 12 tough trail miles in three hours, you want to get your food sooner rather
than later.  I think we were alll surprised that bread was not at the table. We were also getting
impatient because the pizzas were taking a while: longer than we thought they should.  I think our
server was a bit put out by us. Maybe she just wasn't sure what to make of us: 4 (yankee, though Dee
and Karen live down here) hikers talking about hiker things and events. When the waitress brought
the pizzas out she still had not provided us with plates. Did that stop us from digging in? Nope. 
She came back in a couple minutes, seemed longer, with plates and I know she was surprised that we
had not waited.  We told her that she is in for a flood of people just like us when the southbound
though hikers arrive in earnest a few weeks from now. We also mentioned that the special deal the
resteraunt has going which bsically says, "eat a large pizza ; get a free one" is going to cost them
a lot of pizzas when the hungry hordes arrive. I'm not sure she believed us.

We spent a couple or so very enjoyable hours talking about all sorts of things. I know we provided
entertainment for a few other people out on the back porch. They were not talking to each other;
they were listening to us. They were probably wondring what the hell we were talking about
especially when Dee told us she was being called Mona by people. Her email address is monadenockdee.
"Monadinock" refers to the mountain by the same name and "dee" is her name. But, if you don't know
how to say the mountain's name you might come up with mona-da-knock-dee or said quickly
"mona-da-knockknee" Now Dee's knees certainly do not knock. But, she got an email from a race
organizer about her entry into the race and the salutation was "dear Mona" and she knows, after all
she should, that she entered usingher real name of "Dee." A legend is being born. A very funny one.

I think we had a grand time. I sure enjoyed chatting with everyone and I hope I can do so more both
virtually and in the flesh.  When it was time for dessert I think John really managed to flumix our
server when he asked if the canoli were real and made by a little old italian man. I'm not sure she
even knew a canoli was an italian dessert.   She was a tropper though and I think she'll enjoy the
hikers that come through.


We went back to the hotel and the ladies hit the pool and whirlpool (John and Ron had done so
earlier but I gave them  a miss). We went off to our room, watched a bit of NFL football, and
callled it a night as the second half of the game was just getting under way. What a nice day it
was. Made so mostly because we had a good time with Dee and Karen. I'm glad I got to meet them.

©copyright 2000, Kenneth Knight
**  Kenneth Knight    Web Design, IT Consultant, Software Engineer  **
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