When I woke up this morning I discovered my hiking shirt was encrusted in white salt. Sexy! Last night I thought both Wing It and Bluebird got up to pee. I told them I heard them both crashing through the leaves and Bluebird said she never got up last night. They heard the noises too though. It was either a large animal or someone walking near our tents (unlikely given where we were camping).
We had no water, so we headed straight to the shelter about an hour away to fill up. Today's walk was pretty flat again but it was HOT! Hiking in the heat is so draining.
Wing It thought he saw a rattlesnake on the trail but it was a ratsnake trying to fool him. It was rattling its tail in the leaves. It was a pretty nice size too at about four feet long. I know they can get much bigger than that out here but that's the biggest snake we've seen so far.
We hiked with Hog Driver, a working Delta pilot, for part of the day today. Then we met up with some folks at Partnership Shelter. It's right by the Mt. Roger's Visitor Center so it's really nice. It has a nice latrine, a clothes line, is close to a dumpster, and apparently has running water and a hot shower. WAY nicer than other shelters, but it's also just steps away from a parking lot so it must be easy to maintain.
We hung out at the visitor center while we waited for a shuttle into town. Once we got to our hotel, Wiki and I walked over to Arby's. I've been craving Arby's this whole trip. I ordered the biggest sandwich they had. Meat and sauce were everywhere. I felt like a pig but it was amazing! Definitely hit the spot! Wiki and I were trying to remember what town we were in before we realized it didn't really matter. As far as we were concerned, we were in Arby's, VA.
After lunch we resupplied at Walmart and I bought a new tank top and shorts. Now I can wear something besides long johns when we get to camp at the end of a long, hot day. Our tub doesn't drain so by the time we were all done showering the scum ring was pretty disgusting. Oh well. At least it was hot, running water. Can't complain too much.
For dinner, we made the short walk to a Mexican restaurant called Mi Puerto. Apparently, Hog Driver always buys first round for hikers so we all had margaritas. They were actually pretty good! We went around the table asking random questions like, "If you could be any dinosaur, which would you be?" I chose triceratops because it just seemed like a good choice at the time.
While doing laundry we watched our fourth Tom Hanks movie of the trip, Angels and Demons. I'm kind of lost because we missed the beginning. It seems pretty unrealistic but that's probably beside the point. I fell asleep before the ending, but it was 10:45, way past hiker midnight! I was pooped!
Best Thing: Seeing a ratsnake and Arby's.
Looking Forward To: A short day tomorrow and brunch in town.
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