Days 14-16
Day 14: Mile 84 | Budget Inn at Franklin
I woke up around 7am to see Whisperer and the boys off on their journey southbound to make up the miles back to Deep Gap. After they left I climbed back into bed and iced my ankle. I tried to watch TV (which I apparently don’t know how to operate properly) and sincerely thought there were only 6 channels (I don’t even know, y’all) and ended up watching Sesame Street. I called my mom. Did some blogging.
Around 10am I got a text from Michelin:
“Hey. You decent?”
“Yeah...?” I replied.
A few minutes later was a knock at the door. Michelin has arrived! He wasn’t supposed to get there until 6pm! But I’m glad he was early. He came in and we hung out for a bit.
We went for Milkshakes at Motor Co. Diner and had some great burgers. Then we went to the pharmacy to pick up my new sleep aid (to hopefully remedy the fact that I’d slept a collective 40hrs in 2 weeks...). The script wasn’t ready so we stopped at the Lazy Hiker so I could show him their awesome beer. We found out there was a live band that night and resolved to come back. We finally got my medicine and picked up some snacks at the Dollar General. Then headed back to the room for a nap.
We left at 8pm to go to see the live music at the Hiker. So close to Hiker Midnight, we were tired but jazzed to see some of the local community. My ankle was also getting bored. The band ended up being this great 80’s rock cover band called Twist of Fate (how illustrative of our time in Franklin... you’ll see). They were awesome! After that we went back to the motel and showered (because we can!!) and went to bed.
Day 15: Mile 84 | Budget Inn at Franklin
Today I slept in late for the first time in a long time. We went for a walk around town and found some coffee. I finally found a sleeping pad that I thought might work: The Big Agnes Q Core Ultra with an R Value of 4.4 and 15* at 3 Eagles Outfitters. They were so nice there! Also did 10% off for Thru-Hikers!
Whisperer unexpectedly finished his make up miles early and met is back in town. We went to Wal Mart with him and to the Chinese Buffet right next door. Which was super clean and very delicious!
We all went back to the motel after that and ate candy and made some plans. Tomorrow was going to be Monday so I planned to go to Outdoor 76 to get my new shoes. Michelin and I made our plan to make up my miles from Deep Gap to Winding Stair Gap. We decided to go Southbound for that section as well.
As I was packing I realized that I had scorched my pot at Muskrat Creek when I made dinner and... reheated it... yeah the nonstick coating was peeling off... so I needed a new pot. Michelin offered to go get one at Wal Mart (less than half the price of the outfitter. I had the feeling I was going to ruin another one...) in the morning while I got my packages at the post office. Relieved, I finished packing and set up my sleeping pad. I slept on it that night to test! It was super comfortable! I also wrote on my umbrella: 'Hiker to Town' and 'Hiker to Trail' for hitch hiking later down the road. Fresh Ground taught me that!
Day 16: Mile 105.7 | Rock Gap Shelter
In the morning I woke up and went to get my packages from the post office. My mom had sent me a care package with the best cookies ever! Michelin went to Wal Mart. We met back at the motel and then headed over to Outdoor 76 for my shoe fitting.
Rob sat me down in the shoe section and asked about how the weekend went. We agreed that I was ready to go back out. He remeasured my feet, remembering that my left was the one that had the problem and my first name! He gave me 3 options. I tried the first: La Sportiva Ultra Raptors. I tried them on, noticing the arch. The fact that there wasn’t a prominent one. They were comfortable but I wasn’t wowed. He moved on to the Brooks Cascadia 13. I hated the reinforced foam on the four corners. Next we tried a Hoka One One trail shoe. I wasn’t a fan of the way the ‘rail’ forced a forward motion on these. Lastly, he put me back into the La Sportivas.
After feeling all of the other options, these really felt like they fit like a glove! I really loved the cushioning of the Hokas, but I decided these were a better fit for me. Rob agreed. I grabbed a can of fuel and checked out. We went back to the motel and made sure we had everything.
Mike, our shuttle driver picked us up to go back to the trail. We realized after we got out there that the $3 shuttle from town was running, but totally spaced since it hadn’t been running all weekend.
We hiked 4.5 miles to the shelter. It was cloudy but nice, no rain!! No rain for the first time!
We arrived at the shelter around 3 all by ourselves! We started a little camp fire and made our dinners. It was a lovely night. Later another man showed up. He showed us some of his gear, most of which he made himself!
Later on after Michelin and I headed to bed, PB + J also showed up. I had seen them around in passing. It’s crazy how you can see people once and never again or end up leap frogging each other.
That night I woke up every hour for the first four hours with some small panic attacks. My heart rate would shoot up as soon as I was about to fall asleep. Michelin stayed awake with me. We did some deep breathing and eventually I exhausted myself so much that I fell asleep. We weren’t quite sure if it was the Seroquel (which I had only taken it a few times and we realized that each time was after having at least 1 beer...). It was a long night.