I woke up comfortably in a bed at the bee farm. We all slept in a bunk house cabin. One by one myself, Trigger, Cushy and Wait a Minute all made our way to the table located in the kitchen area for breakfast. Trigger got coffee going as we each pulled out trail food from our food bags. We ate together and discussed the game plan for the day.
We knocked out 20 miles yesterday so because of that and logistical issues, today was just going to be a 10 mile day. It was either that or the next pick up spot would have made a 26 mile day. We opted for 10 instead. We were hiking southbound too. Another item to align things logistically. We finished our breakfast and Mike, the owner of the farm, was ready to shuttle us to our starting point.
When we arrived, to our surprise, trail magic! There was a red truck parked up on a hill close to a cemetery. We walked up and there was a gentlemen by the name of Paul cooking eggs and sausage and hash browns. Even though we all had a small breakfast already, we dug in, as we weren’t gong to let this opportunity pass. He had Cokes and cookies too.
While eating, the NoBros showed up. We passed them the day before. They were listening to Lord of the Rings via speaker phone while hiking. They didn’t say much then but they were really nice and chatty this morning. They were going north bound and brothers hence the name NoBros. Cushy is capturing her AT hike via video and sharing it with a few school classrooms from her home town. So she interviewed them.
The Bens showed up as well. A father and son duo. Back in Hiawassee, GA my Dad gave them a ride into town when he dropped me off on the trail one day. We chatted for a bit. It was the last time I’d see them together. The younger Ben I later heard got off the trail for some reason.
As we were finishing up our meals another guy by the name of RALI showed up. RALI stands for Retired And Loving It! Great name ?
I’d never hiked southbound before. It was interesting. We got to see so many people hiking this way. Almost everyone we met was going northbound. Because we were headed in the same direction, Ee could be 15 minutes apart and never see each other. Hiking the opposite direction we ran into 20+ people we knew…and even met some that we didn’t know.
We saw Dave the dad of the father and 3 son team, Pops and his crew, Book Bag, Spartan, Highlander, Papa Smurf, the Mail Boxes (guy and girl band wearing all purple) quite a few others including Snickers. Snickers and I had been corresponding via text so we knew we’d run into each other this day. I invited him to come stay with us. He planned on hiking 16 miles and staying at a shelter though. We chatted for a bit and figured we’d just see each other the next day.
We had several beautiful mountain views, passed by a nice size waterfall, discovered more graves in the middle of no where, and found an AT logo someone made of logs. We later found out Trigger created it. We guessed he had some free time on his hands waiting for us earlier in the day.
We completed our hike and got picked up by Mike again. Shortly afterwards Snickers contacted me and asked if we still had room in our cabin. We told him we did. Our four person team now became five.
We got back to the cabin and Mike offered to do our laundry. The only thing I had left to wear was my rain gear. We were getting cleaned up when a knock, knock, knock raddled the cabin door. Cushy answered it. A guy with a British accent asked, “is Wolverine here?” We all looked at each other behind the door like “who would know I’m here and better yet who would be asking for me by my trail name?” And on top of that, someone with a British accent ?!?
I came to the door and low and beyond if it wasn’t Mr Mighty Blue himself!? I was actually looking to meet him. A buddy of mine (Brent) told me about his PodCast that’s all about hiking the AT. It’s phenomenal! Brent told me that he was hiking the trail again this year and just ahead of me.
I couldn’t imagine why he’d be looking for me. He explained. He had a listener that owns a business and is interested in hiking the AT. She asked if he knew of anyone that owned a business and either hiked or is hiking the AT now. As it turns out I mentioned to Mike, the farm owner, that I was doing just that— juggling a business while hiking the AT. Somehow this got brought up in conversation between the two of them, and Mike told him where to find me.
I had learned a lot about juggling a business while doing this hike already so I told him I’d be more than happy to talk to her. I gave him my phone number to give to her. He then told us he was going out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant close by and asked us if we’d like to join him. He made an announcement online to his listeners if anyone was in the area and wanted to join him as well. We said we’d love to.
We all headed to the shopping center where the restaurant was. Cushy and Trigger weren’t feeling like Mexican so they went to another restaurant next door that served Italian.
Snickers and I met Mighty Blue at his table. We plowed through a couple of buckets of nachos and had a few beers while we got to know each other. We really enjoyed speaking with each other. We exchanged hiking stories and he asked us quite a few questions that we answered. He said he wished he’d brought his recorder as his listeners needed to hear what we had to say about our experiences.
Then one of listeners showed up. He asked all of us quite a few questions as well. He said he admired us for what we were doing. He said he was going to buy our dinners. We told him we’d at least buy our own drinks. We thought we had a deal but he ended up picking up the entire tab anyway. We thanked him graciously. How kind.
We all finished up our dinner and discussion and parted ways. Cushy and Trigger did a quick resupply at the grocery store in the shopping center and reconnected with Snickers and myself afterwards. We headed back to the farm. I got caught up on some work items, journaled a bit, and fell fast asleep in my bunk.
Link to Mighty Blue’s PodCast About Our Dinner: https://mightyblueontheat.com/episode-143-appalachian-trai…/
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