[at-l] My Weekend

[stringdm@yahoo.com (Dawn Stringer)]

This lovely work of prose is being sent to my hiker
friends as well as the AT-L, so if you don't
understand part of all of it, that's because it was
not written with you in mind.  That being said, here
is the detailed account of my weekend to Georgia...

It all started the night before, with the wild packing
of gear until 2am.  What shall we bring?  Waterfall
and I asked each other.  I had to borrow her sleeping
bag, since mine had perished in the fire, and we
decided on taking her Clip Three tent since we were
probably going to slack whatever part of the AT we
would end up hiking.

We checked the weather report on the internet, and
found out that it would rain all weekend.  What a
shock!  I then sent Hungry Howie and e-mail telling
him that the weather would be too crappy for him to go
kayaking, so he had to pack his shit and wait for us
to show up.  I received no response by 8am the next
morning, as I'd sent it at 3am and he was probably
sleeping.

Friday morning, we met up with Mudbug at the
Backpacker, the local outfitter in Baton Rouge
(pronounced with a very bad French accent), put all
our stuff in his car, then hit the road.  We took a
"What Color is your Aura" test on the way to
Montgomery.  Mine is Magenta, Waterfall's is Lavender
and Mudbug's is Indigo.  Turns out, according to the
book, we all get along pretty well.  That's a good
thing, since we were stuck in a car for 9 hours.

Back in February of last year, when I signed up to
keep my journal on Trailplace, I saw that a cute boy
named Jeremy Padgett was keeping a journal as well,
and was starting the same day as me.  Waterfall and I
would send e-mails back and forth talking about how
cute he was and that it was really a shame that i'm so
old.  At Neels Gap, I met a hiker named Hungry Howie,
who was cute as well.  I sent Waterfall a post card
saying "I haven't met that cute Jeremy Padgett yet,
but there is this really cute hiker named Hungry
Howie."  That cause uproarious laughter in Plaquemine,
Louisianna (pronounced "Loosianna"), where Waterfall
knew that Hungry Howie WAS that cute Jeremy Padgett. 
Since then, she has always referred to him as "that
cute Jeremy Padgett."

We stopped at a Cracker Barrell to eat lunch, and
after finishing, decided to call that cute Jeremy
Padgett.  The answering machine picked up and said "Hi
Belcher..."  I didn't realize it was the answering
machine and thought "How did he know it was me?"  He
said he was working and I had to call him at work,
which I did.

We met him at Southern Trails, the outfitter in
Montgomery.  We decided to use hiking poles as light
sabers to embarrass him, but it didn't work.  We ended
up taking over the tent room in the store until his
boss said to him "you're not going to do any more
work, so you might as well go home."  Then we all
jumped for joy and headed to the Howie residence.

Momma Howie wasn't home, as she was on vacation in
Florida.  Pappa Howie was home, and Waterfall
entertained him with a jazzy rendition of "You Are My
Sunshine" on the piano as Howie tried to figure out
what to put into his pack.

I don't know what time we finally got on the road
again.  All I know is that we were in the middle of a
monsoon.  I have never liked thunderstorms, and when
we stopped for gas, the guy at the counter said there
was a tornado on the highway.  The fearless
thru-hikers that we are, we trudged on.  I tried to
become totally wrapped up in my conversation with
Howie, but every time I saw lightening, I jumped and
said "Oh God."  Yeah, I was a thrill to have on the
trail during thunderstorms...

We made it to POG's house in Atlanta sometime in the
night.  Landslides was there, drinking wine, missing
her husband, Fur Trapper already.  We brought in a
book called "If" that Mudbug owned.  It contains a
plethora of questions that begin with if, and most of
them were sexual:  just what a bunch of hiker trash
needs.  Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep going
on that night.

I don't know what time we got up to go to Springer in
our search for Isis & Jackrabbit.  We stopped at
Amicalola to look at the register, but they wouldn't
let us.  Howie and I found a stuffed dolphin in the
children's play area, and stuck him in a fake tree in
the "LNT" display.  Some things never change.

As was the case when I tried to find Springer last
year, we had to turn around 5 times.  And, as was the
case, the weather was grey and wet.  I cried a tear of
nostalgia.  We kept talking about how we all had
everything we need in our packs, so we could just go
north...

Hiking up the .9 to Springer was fun.  I got excited
and started running, then remembered it was .9 and I
don't have hiker legs (or ass) anymore, so I better
not.  It did keep us warm, however.

I had misloaded my film last year, so I have no
Springer Mt. pictures.  Now I do.  Some are not
suitable for young audiences.  Some are not suitable
for Hungry Howie.  Sad thing is, those are the ones
he's in.

We met Trail Shy up there.  She was starting her
thru-hike.  She even hiked the approach trail.  Wow. 
We hiked with her to the shelter.

At the shelter, we met many southbounders who had just
summitted, including Isis and Jackrabbit.  It was a
wonderful reunion for Waterfall and the sisters.  I
don't remember any of the other southbounders names,
or I would list them now.  I just remember that it was
cold and wet and there was a southbounder who looked
just like Ganoosh, but who refused to admit that he
was Ganoosh.

We talked Isis & Jackrabbit into coming to Gooch Gap
with us, where we were to meet POG for dinner, booze
and fun.  The original plan was that we would hike
from some part of the AT to Gooch Gap.  We ended up
driving, making this my first yellow blaze of the
season.  I still ate like a thru-hiker, though.

At Gooch Gap, we surprised Aswah and Little Bit.  It
was actually a little weird to be on the trail again,
with Aswah, Abbie & Howie.  Oh, and did I mention the
weather?  I felt like I'd stepped through a time warp
and was back in March 2000 on the trail, only a little
bit slimmer and in better shape.  Everyone looked the
same.  I sat at the campfire, watching everyone talk
and reminisce.  Isis & Jackrabbit sang their "Dig a
Hole, Dump Your Load" song for everyone, Aswah and
Howie discussed their future hiking plans on the PCT
and everyone else who's planning on hiking it next
year, and of course, we brought up our favorite
stories and trail lure from last year:  The Diddler,
Aswahfest, Fausa & the Bounce Truck, the Lovely and
Talented Miz Delphi Chassis, who has decided to
thru-hike this year, and was even at Gooch Gap that
evening.  I think she's planning on hiking along with
Aswah and Abbie, though Abbie doesn't seem to be a big
fan of hers.  Delphi hiked out the next morning with
Rambunny (did I forget to mention that she was there
as well?), and I think they'll become great trail
friends.

All night, Waterfall called Howie "that cute Jeremy
Padgett," which she then shortened to CJP.  That is
his new trail name.  For reasons I will not mention
due to the fact that it will make this e-mail too long
and because it will make mudbug blush, Mudbug's new
trail name was changed to "Indiglo."

The next morning, we were awakened by belcher and
mudbug practicing how Bob Peoples from Kinkora Hostel
would yell out various hiker names in the throes of
passion.  "oooh Jackwabbit!"  It was only the
beginning...

Because of the sensitivity of the issue, I will only
mention that a certain body part of a certain hiker
became a certain trail register for a certain gooch
gap.  Certain hikers took certain pictures and now a
certain hiker is a little embarrassed, but it was
certainly fun at the time.  At least washable markers
were used...

later, we packed up our wet stuff and shoved it in the
trunk.  Little Bit was busy trying to convince Aswah
into taking a zero day, and when we left at 11:30, it
looked as if she'd won.  We crammed 6 stinky hikers
(two of which had the authentic hiker funk) and 6
packs into Mudbug's car, and we traveled back to
Amicalola.  Five miles from the trail, we saw the sun
and the sky.  As we approached Amicalola, it began
raining again, thus proving the theory that there is a
rain cloud 2,168.1 miles long, stretching from
Springer to Katahdin.  We ate brunch at the lodge, and
since it was a buffet, we had to eat like hikers. 
I've spent the morning in the bathroom, and since
beginning this e-mail, I've had three code browns.

After dropping off Isis and Jackrabbit, we headed
west.  We had to lock the doors to keep Howie from
jumping out to get back on the trail.  His parents
were surprised that he came back, when we dropped him
off.  I'm sure they were certain he'd be sending them
a post card from Hot Springs in a couple weeks.  We
finally got to meet Momma Howie, and she gave us some
mint from her garden to put into our tea.  Then off we
were to the gret stet of Loosianna.

And now I'm home, it's sunny and warm, and I'd give
anything to be cold and wet on the AT. sniff...

love to all!

Belcher


"One can't love man without hating most of the creatures who pretend to bear his name." -Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead


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