Singing in the Rain

Just when you want to throw you pack down, sit down in the dirt and give up, the AT somehow conjures up a vista of astonishing beauty as if to say "see, it's worth it". Invariably, we have noticed, this happens at around five in the afternoon, after a whole day of back-breaking uphill climbing, so that when you do turn in for the night the last thing you remember is the view and not the walk.

This week has not been without its challenges.

We had our first rainy weather on the trail. From listening to other hikers talk (and talk, and talk, and talk they do) I guess we have been lucky up till now. At first it wasn't too bad, even kind of fun in a novel way. We got to whip out the expensive rain gear and try out our new raincoats. Gradually though, everything gets a little damp -boots, socks, spirits. Then before you know it, everything you own is wet and it's starting to get cold. The best thing to do, we have found, is retreat to the nearest shelter and get into your sleeping back, no matter what time of day it is. All you have to worry about then is the threat of lightning hitting the shelter... it has been known to happen.

The other main preoocupation of the week has us conspiring to lift our caloric intake per day - you should have at least 2000 and at the moment we are waning on about 1500 a day. This may sound kind of fancy, but mainly this is rationalizing how may snickers bars we can carry before our packs become too heavy. Of course, filling up on calories when you reach a town helps too, like we did last night, at the all-you-can-eat KFC buffet this town has. They even had kentucky fried giblets... only in America...

Culinary issues aside, the town we are stopped in at the moment, Erwin, Tennessee, is a lovely little place, set amongst the mountains and by a large river, where you can go rafting and swimming, which we plan to check out later today. Theres a movie theatre, some cute little cafes, and even an art gallery. Oh, and it also where they make the fuel for America's nuclear submarines. You can't win em all i guess.

Our other task for today is to find new reading material for the trail - Thomas has been making his was through the collected works of Henry David Thoreau, one of America's great nature lovers. This tends to put him to sleep after about two pages though, so he's on the lookout for some more suitable holiday reading. Perhaps the Bible?

After two weeks and over 175 miles, the AT is certainly not without its challenges, but at the end of the (long) days walking, its worth it.