This is a true story

I woke up two days ago in the woods, tired and cranky. I'd tried to go to bed at a normal hour (10ish) the night before, but there was a pretty epic thunderstorm going on and between the shelter's tin roof and rather gnarly spider infestation, I'd had a difficult time sleeping. There's really nothing worse in the world than waking up to the promise of a 20 mile slog through mud and drizzle except maybe the activation of the potentiality entailed in that promise. Anyway, apparently I wasn't the only unhappy camper in the shelter that morning. My crony Ajax--an ADHD Oberlin sophomore who, much to my constant chagrin, walks the AT belting Blood Brothers songs at the top of his lungs all day--with whom I'd planned to hike for the day seemed equally miserable. Freight Train, who'd been up all night playing chess with a 50ish anesthesiologist named Sleeper, was equally inconsolable about the prospect of walking. So there we were, along with Dirt and Night Rider, sitting on our duffs contemplating our options. We've all walked damn near 600 miles by this point and none of us have much to prove to ourselves or each other, especially regarding our ability to put one foot in front of the other ad nauseum.

Ideas started being tossed around. One only carries so much food on the trail so sitting in the shelter all day wasn't really an option: we had to go somewhere. I suggested we go back to where the trail crosses the road near Atkins, VA and try to hitch a little ways down the trail to a hotel room we could split five ways. Maybe get some beers. Whatever.

So that was the basic first iteration of the plan, but all plans tend to spiral out of control (whereas all plots lead deathward, or so I'm told). Night Rider, who's originally from Long Island, but went to mechanic's school in Northern Carolina suggested a more outlandish scheme. He had a job working on boats on a lake in northwest North Carolina last summer and was real tight with his boss. In fact, he lived with his boss on a property on a peninsula on a beautiful lake in North Carolina and, in fact, his boss was a really cool dude and, in fact, his friend who still lived and worked for this guy could get to a road two miles from the shelter in about two hours and, in fact, we could totally stay by the lake for a few days. This was a good idea. Calls were made, packs were packed and we five--Ajax, Freight Train, Night Rider, Dirt and Senator (me)--soon found ourselves flying down US81 toward a lake in North Carolina.

So here I am, somehow on the shores of Lake Norman in beautiful North Carolina. We've mostly been eating and sleeping and fishing and watching movies and drinking beers (it's exceptionally wonderful to find a proper beer store that carries beer nicer than Natural Ice). Actually, I'm going to go open a Pilsner Urquell and thrown a hamburger on the grill right now. Tomorrow, we walk!