[at-l] Bob - Back on his horse.

[shane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Shane Steinkamp)]

Bob is back on the trail.  Updates and photo available here:

http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/hiking/journals/bob/030301.htm

Maybe someone would be kind enough to tell me what the rock he is sitting
against actually says...

As some of you know, I was in North Carolina for vacation, and I intended to
visit Hummingbird and Dutch Treat on the way home on Tuesday.  My daughter
got quite sick while we were in NC - fever and vomiting - so I called off
the visit.  We were really worried about her - not to mention that riding in
a car for many hours with a sick two year old isn't much fun...  As fate
would have it, or perhaps by a miracle, we awoke on Tuesday morning and
Virginia was fine.  Since we were only two hours away from Jan and Linda, we
decided to try to make it.

I found out that Bob was at Mountain Crossings working out some gear, and I
thought it would be a real hoot to drop in on him unannounced.  I knew that
Mountain Crossings was at Neels gap, consulted the map, saw how close it was
to Jan and Linda's, and decided to make a go of it.

Now, despite having gone by the trail name 'navigator' for many years, I
find that the skill of navigation seems to have left me just about
completely...  I drove straight to Dicks Creek Gap and to took my brain a
very long time to reconcile the fact that I was NOT looking at the Walasi-Yi
Center...  After talking to a hiker who borrowed my cell phone to call his
ride, he showed me his map and explained that Neels Gap was where I wanted
to be - about 40 miles away.

Since I had a promise to fulfill at Jan and Linda's, I was prevented from
taking the time to see him, but at least I had a go...

Our visit with Jan and Linda was wonderful in every way - except for the
fact that my daughter was acting like a two year old...  Virginia took to
Linda and kept asking for her all the way home...  It was a lot of fun to
drive through places that I've seen mentioned over and over again on the
list.  From the way some of you make it sound, Georgia is 'hard', but it
looked awfully pleasant to me from the car.  ;)

BTW, Dicks Creek Gap parking area is nice, and now I can say that I have
hiked on the AT.  I made about twenty yards, and saw a white blaze.  Does
that count as a day hike?  ;)

I'm still trying to plough through about 4000 emails...

Shane