[at-l] DAY FOUR...

[yugrekih at yahoo.com (Richard Mann)]

DAY FOUR...

The birds are our alarm clock.  It was raining.  We lay in our tent
waiting for the birds.  It was past time for the birds to be singing,
but the birds won't sing when it is raining.  When we hear their songs,
we will know the rain is about to end.  We did hear some singing,
though, but it was DEJA-VU.  He was trying to trick us into thinking
that the rain was ending.  DEJA-VU, what a kidder...

The birds finally gave us the ALL-CLEAR.  DEJA-VU was already up
cooking his BEANS.  His two dogs were licking their BALLS.  They each
had a TENNIS BALL, and were happily licking away.  DEJA-VU had strung
his ROPE and hung a few items out to dry.  We had our normal BACON and
EGGS breakfast, then we packed up and headed out...

The hike up BLOOD MOUNTAIN was tough, but the views from the top were
worth it.  We watched a few HAWKS playing tag in the THERMALS.  We
decided to linger awhile atop BLOOD, and have lunch.  I took this
opportunity to try out my COLEMAN HIKING SLINGSHOT.  For lunch, we had
ROASTED HAWK, CORN ON THE COB, and a few left over ACORNS.  What a
feast...

Coming down off of BLOOD, SURLEY's WHEELCHAIR got away from her a bit. 
It took to sliding on the SLABS, and she ended up sprawled in the
ALPINElike SCRUB more than once.  Near the bottom of the descent,
SURLEY's WHEELCHAIR got loose one last time, crashing into BALANCE
ROCK.  SURELY was nearly crushed as the rock capsized.  We did see some
LEGS with POINTY SHOES sticking out from under the rock.  They then
rolled up and disappeared under the rock.  WARREN DOYLE and a bunch of
LITTLE PEOPLE came out of the woods and started dancing and singing,
"DING DONG THE WING IS DEAD..."

We got to NEELS GAP just as LANCE ARMSTRONG rolled by in the TOUR DE
GEORGIA.  He screeched to a halt when he saw SURELY.  LANCE said,
"Anyone that can wheel the APPALACHIAN TRAIL gets my admiration." He
got SURELY's sutograph, hopped back on his bike, and sprinted off.  We
wished him luck...

We couldn't see buying more eggs.  They weigh a good bit, and tend to
break.  We opted for a CHICKEN instead.  The store at NEELS GAP had
them on sale, so we snatched one right up.  We had an eye on a PIG, but
another hiker talked us out of it.  Seems he had had a bad experience. 
Something about pushing the PIG over a STILE, and an OFFICER OF THE
LAW.  We didn't get the entire story...

We took showers and did laundry, then headed out.  This section of
trail, NEELS GAP to TESNATEE GAP, was the prettiest so far.  The ups
and downs were gentle, and the VISTAs were inspiring.  We had many
choices for tenting, but kept on hiking.  After TESNATEE, the climb up
WILDCAT was tough, but the SWITCHBACKS helped.  We had heard horrible
things about WHITLEY GAP SHELTER, so decided not to take the 1.2 mile
side trail.  Instead, we hiked another 0.2 and took the BLUE BLAZE to
the right just before the road at HOGPEN GAP.  There is a nicely
flowing spring and a few good tent spots.  COOSA was there with her two
dogs, HUMMINGBIRD and DUTCH TREAT dropped by, and OB popped in.  We sat
around the CAMPFIRE and got drunk...

Lef iss guut...

FERD and SURLY


		
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