Waking up on the trail in your tent to sunshine is so nice. Ahhh the little things! I thought we had about a 10 mile day into Fontana Dam until the others said oh no it was only about 5 miles. SCORE! Super good mood instantly, the morning was beautiful, and soon we'd be in town. As good as that sounded I quickly found out, there was a mistake and it was gonna be closer to 9 miles-FUCK, I was right. It is one thing when you are prepared for bad news, it's another when you hear good news and then find out the bad news was true. So I hiked at my own pace since I was hurting from yesterday, and now my spirits had been lowered. The day was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be and that frustrated me. For some reason I had it in my head that we should get there around 2:00, I constantly thought it should be only another mile and then I would be told 3 miles. I was hurting, irritated, and it was a tough day-but you know what tough days bring? Great opportunities. We reached the road and my allergies acted up bad, eyes itchy, constantly sneezing, it was not fun. I got a Cherry Coke from the vending machine, and washed my hands and face in the marina bathroom. We called a shuttle to bring is into Fontana; once in town, I got some re supply food, honey, and Benedryl. There is a photo of me opening all of the Benedryl packets to place in my ziplock of a pharmacy and dispose of the trash-priorities. If you look below there is also a photo of a leather chair; that is directly in front of me sitting on the toilet...tell me, who the hell would want to sit directly in front of-that close to someone going to the bathroom?! We walked up the hill to Wildwood Grill where we charged our phones and I Facetimed with my mom. We ordered a chicken and cheese quesadilla, I got a strawberry beer and a bacon cheese burger (again couldn't put a dang fried egg on top of!) After we headed down to do laundry and found a pile of quarters on the counter-SCORE! It was already getting late and we were not planning a zero so we were getting a little antsy. I decided to buy a razor for 50 cents- MAN, I feel like a woman! I noticed a rash on my right calve and that worried me-I hope it goes away! Sure was interesting shaving in a public bathroom sink...as I was finishing up and gathering my stuff, I heard the store clerk wiggle the door knob and then scream FUCK! Now she was an older woman who hobbled around, I was nervous to open the door and as I did she was mad and told me she closed 25 minutes ago. Woops! I returned to the laundry room and Lynn was on the phone and Corey was eating 2 gas station hot dogs so I sat outside and clipped my toenails-classy! I felt like class A white trash. It was now 8pm as our laundry was in the dryer...since 8 is around the time I crawl into my tent, we were getting tired and wondering if we would have to hobo camp in the marina parking lot. We called for a shuttle and he said he could bring us to the shelter a mile away so we hopped in the bed of the pickup and off we went! Korey was not happy skipping the miles but Lynn and I were more than happy to be on our way back on schedule. I have heard "it's not about the miles, it's about the smiles" and I like that a lot because as you can see I am hiking the Appalachian Trail; however, I am not a purists by any means. Part of "my way thru" is seeing the quirky little towns, and meeting people along the way. We walked on a paved road from the lot where they dropped us off down to the "Hilton" shelter at Fontana because it has bathrooms it is called that. I camped as always and there were like camping slips; flat ground, cement barriors marking each spot it was nice! Smokies tomorrow-AHHHHHHHH!(
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