Fontana Village

Today was a short 5.5 miles into Fontana Village. I hiked into the first road and then hitched in the rest of the way on a gross truck that had garbage and muck on the bottom. The truck already had picked up several other hikers, so Lucky Penny and I jumped thankful not to walk the last two miles. I got two boxes from the post office within the two hour window they were open (Thank Goodness, I might have missed it without the hitch into town!). Thank you Cristy for helping me out with the home side of mailing my junk back and forth. Thank you Grandma Toni for the cookies and milk. I shared and the CFC loves you and thinks you rock too! The box Cristy sent was supposed to have my next batch of pills, including the Synthroid I ran out of a little while ago. I've never been off this drug since starting it. This isn't good! The box was kind of mangled and I wonder if maybe they had fallen out.

It was really neat today as Fontana Lake was right next to me as I was making my way into town. For the last couple of weeks I've seen it in the distance, and now HERE IT IS! It is incredible to know that I've actually covered all that distance (about 165 miles so far!) We are taking a zero day here. We all really need it and agreed that a day of R&R is a requirement. Andy got a cabin that we all stayed in and pitched some money to him for our living room slumber party. It was Bluto, Nothai, Chef, Screefreak and I. I really enjoy the social in town times. It is obviously great to let the body heal and recover, but to mentally decompress and spend time with everyone is really precious time spent for me. Bluto and Nothai are hilarious. Chef and Screfreak are so great too, all of us making fun of the others accents. We hung out at the pool during the day with a bunch of other hikers; Moe, Ninja (previously Wendy, whom I also named), Scavenger, and others.

Tonight we stay at the Fontana Hilton shelter and head into the Smokies tomorrow...oh man! I'm a little scared, although Lucky Penny (who thru hiked once before) eased my mind a bit and said it isn't anything that we haven't already been through.

I couldn't upload pictures here, so there will be a lot next week. There is an updated address to Standing Bear Farm that I'll be at in one week, since my dates were so screwy and I needed to have Cristy send emergency replacement drugs.
Miss Everyone Much!