Rules

Hello from Erwin, TN! I think my walk is about to change. I got off to a late start based on what is recommended for thru-hikers, but I am closing in on the herd. The last few days I haven't seen too many other folks, but I've arrived at a Uncle Johnny's hostel here in Erwin and got the last bed. Uncle Johnny's is as classy as it sounds and all the folks here have a good time sitting around talking drinking beers, chewing tobacco, and smoking cigs. Apparently these various hostels are something of a hiker vortex, people come here and they never leave. Some stay for months, and some can't afford it, like the guy living under the bridge across the river. They say it takes all kinds to make the world go round, and I believe that, but it apparently it only takes a certain kind to hike the AT.

I've been sleeping a bit iun the shelters they have out here cause its been raining. I met a 19 year old kid the other day who had a hard time stringing his words together. He stayed up till almost 11:00 babbling about how thoughts were the next step to human evolution. Apart from not making a lick of sense he did not understand that you are supposed to go to bed at 9:00. The next day I hiked 21 miles and got to a shelter pretty late and had it all to myself. At 10:45 PM in the middle of a rain storm this kid comes walking into the shelter disturbing my sleep and when I woke up in the morning he had hung his food directly above my head. This is not Nam there are rules! You hang your food on the bear cables and you go to bed at 9:00. Anyway I was able to shake him yesterday and then ran into two fun kids coming up to a hill called Big Bald which I was frantically running down in the midst of a lightning storm (every time I gt to a pretty spot with a view a lightning storm shows up and I go a running). I ended up spending the night with these two 20 year olds in a storm. They didn't have much for gear and this morning when I woke up they were huddled together wrapped up in a tarp. It was cute. The one kid had 17 brothers and sisters 14 of them adopted. Pretty crazy talking ot him about his life.

I'm going to go into town now and get some supplies. I'm trying to make it to Virginia in the next 7 days. Hope to write again when I'm there.

-Wrong Way