Trailing Towards Maine: Day 6-7: Farewell Georgia... Hello NC (mile 98.6)

Breakfast was a-freaking-mazing. Fresh pancakes with blueberry syrup, homemade cheese biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage and orange juice. Also amazing was waking up in a warm bed with a pillow. All round, the Blueberry Patch was just what we all needed. Gary drove us into town to the post office and I finally got my solar charger!! Aw yeah - so technological now... Quick stop at a supermarket. (Mitch had caught up with us now and needed to re-supply) and then we were back on the trail... at 11:15. Late start, but we were fully fueled and ready to march.

Walking in the nice cool weather. And soon enough, we were at the Georgia/NC state line. Done with Georgia!! (which turned up the incline and didn't want to let us go.) 1 state down - 13 to go... Felt like good progress. We stopped for a snack (the boys both peed from one state to the other), and then we trucked on...

...for a whiiiiile. It ended up being a long day. 18 miles with a late start. We knew there was a chance of rain, so we made it to Standing Indian shelter and cooked up a warm meal. The temperature was dropping fast! Mitch showed up as we were cleaning up again, and we all goofed off until we fell asleep at 9:30 or so... Cold cold night! (maybe high 30s?) But my sleeping bag is doing the trick. Had to strip off a layer after a few hours. Sleeping in the poofy coat was just a bit much...

Woke up and it was still quite chilly and drizzling. Xan, Brian and I didn't want to move from our warm sleeping bags, so we stayed in them till almost 9. Tristan & Philip (son and father team) had tented and they were off early. William ("Fields") left next. Then Mitch. And finally us... Around 9:30. Walking helped the chill, but it continued to drizzle for most of the day. Finally tested out the Ike rain gear! Seems to work fine, tho I'm not sure I like the poncho vs a rain jacket...

I let the boys go on ahead since I think their pace is juuuust a bit too fast for me. But caught them for lunch at a shelter 7 miles down the road. Then we took off again for 6.5 miles to Big Springs shelter (mile 98.6!!) where we're all holed up now. HELL of a last .7 miles up Albert Mountain. Pretty much straight up. It started pouring soon after we arrived at the shelter, which was nice timing. Joyce, a 61 year old lady from Boulder, CO kept a good pace and is here, too. Mitch showed up 30 later. We all made dinner and tried to make cookies in Xan's jet boil pan with the roll or cookie dough Mitch brought up. Good, but not exactly cookies... Then Fields showed up drenched! Poor kid.

Bear bags are up and the temperature is down, and it's 7:30. Time for bed...? Looking forward to less rain tomorrow. Should be 60s and sunny.