[at-l] I'm Baaaaack! KC's great adventure #1

["KC" <felton@bluenet.net>]

Let's get out of the way why I'm back. We started out on Sat,,,on Sun I got
sick and it went downhill from there. I lost 7 pounds in 4 days. Could not
keep anything down. On Sun we hiked 8 miles and I thought I was going to
die. On Mon we took the day off and stayed at Moreland Gap Shelter, I could
barely walk. On Tue we hiked 8 miles and finally had to stop. BTW, it is
very easy to throw-up with a full pack on especially when you have hiking
poles to hold you up. On Wed, we hiked 6 miles to 19E. BTW, it is NOT easy
to get your pack off and pants down to do-do when you have diarrhea. When
we got to 19E we tried to hitch a ride into town. After 15 minutes we were
frustrated and decided I would have to walk another 3 miles on the road. A
semi came by and blew our hats off. Beth's went down the embankment forever
lost. Mine was behind me and I fetched it. We turned around and there was a
car across the road. I went over and yelled "HEY" the guy looked up and
quickly put down what he was doing (I suspect it wasn't legal). Now you
would never get into a car with a guy like this under normal
circumstances,,,but I was desperate. Besides I had my girlfriend, my dog
and my pepper spray. I told him that I had been sick and this was the
closet town, could he pleasssseeee give us a ride. (The begging class at
ALDHA comes to mind). He said well, I don't know. I said, PLEASSEEEE I'll
give you as much money as you want. I've been very sick for the last 4
days, haven't been able to keep anything down, have been throwing up and
just want to go home. We tried to hitch but no one will pick us up. He
said, you have an awfully big dog there!!! I said Yes but he loves people,
he wouldn't hurt a flea. Pleasssseee give us a ride. I'll pay anything. I
need to get to the closest motel to call someone to take me home.
Pleassseeee I just want to go home and I'm so very sick and haven't been
able to eat anything in the last three days, I'll pay you, I just can't
walk anymore......He finally looked at me and opened the trunk and said OK,
put your stuff back here. We loaded the packs and got in the car. He drove
us to the motel. I offered him $10 but he refused it. He said, if ever you
see me on the road, stranded pick him up. I said, OK deal! I kept thanking
him over and over again, I was so very grateful. There was a pay phone
there and we called TheRedHead trying to use a credit card, I didn't know
you could not use just any old credit card. They refused to accept my card.
We then called my mom who was house and dog sitting. Long story short
TheRedHead and Four Winds came to our rescue, TRUE Trail Angels!!!! They
gave us a ride all the way home! Of course I still didn't feel well and
Four Winds sure took some of those curves awfully fast,,,almost causing me
to ask her to pull over so I wouldn't mess up her jeep,,,but we made it! I
hope they made it back home cause Beth was trying to give directions and
they were coming up with all kinds of different ways you could get from
here to there! I took a shower and am now trying to to regain my strength.
We are going to regroup and hit the trail as soon as I can carry my pack,
hopefully in about 4 days. More reports to follow, we had quite and
adventure! KC


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