April 4, 1997 (Day 16 – milepoint 162.1 – Fontana Dam Shelter)

Today felt like a long day. As anxious as I am to get into the Great Smokey Mountains, the fatigue in my body speaks too loudly to ignore – I’m definitely taking tomorrow off.

When I got to the road that would take me to the Fontana Village post office, I put my thumb in the air and hitched a ride for the first time in my life. It actually worked! A nice couple from Maryland dropped me off at the Village, where I picked up my next cache of food and had lunch with Smiley and Breakaway in a small lodge-like cafe. Good food, poor service. But I prefer that to good service, poor food.

My thumb came through for me again as two Fontana Village Security Officers took me back to the trailhead so I could walk a couple hundred feet to the Fontana Dam Shelter.

-Aquaholic

April 4, 2009

Hey Aquaholic,

Divorce sucks. It’s making me want to be divorced.

O’