Day 157: The Best Zero

I woke up just after 8am feeling refreshed and well rested. Mom and I got ready and met Uncle Keith and Aunt Kathy across the way at their cabin to go to breakfast. Their cabin had the best views of Lake Watauga.. the mountains jutting up around the crystal blue water with trees dazzling us with all of their fall colors. Our cabin had views of the houseboats on the marina, beautiful in their own way.. like the painted ladies of the lake.

We all piled into the SUV and Uncle Keith drove us to the only restaurant that seemed to be open in the tiny town of Hampton, Tennessee. It was named “Amber’s Country Cooking” and it was exactly that-perfectly made country breakfasts with portions bigger than our heads! I actually couldn’t eat all my food this time.. I don’t know if my body realized we weren’t hiking today or if it truly was just that much food. Either way, it was very good! Biscuits and gravy, fried eggs, hash browns, bacon, cheese grits, and a huge glass of orange juice. Whew buddy!

After breakfast, we drove into Elizabethon right on the outskirts of Johnson City and found an actual Ingles grocery store for me to resupply at. It was nice to have so many options without the crowded chaos of Walmart. While this was a chore I didn’t want to have to do, it had to be done and the vehicle made it so much easier!
When we left the grocery store we headed back towards Hampton and followed the signs through the countryside to the Wilber and Watauga dams.. I crossed the Watauga dam on the way into Boots Off 2 days ago and I knew it was gorgeous, so I was excited to see the signs and to know it’s apparently easy to drive to so they could see it’s beauty in person, too.

The countryside was just as stunning as the dams themselves. The mountains speckled with farmhouses and barns, cows and Christmas tree farms. The water only added to the magic of it all. Such a simpler life out here, away from all the cars and city life. We stopped at the top of the Wilber dam first.. the water being clear in some spots all the way to the bottom. When we got to close to the Watauga dam we had to park and walk.. and ended up connecting with the AT and walking the exact part of the trail I had. It was surreal to have my favorite people there, literally walking in my footsteps.

We took the hike down to the waterway and over the dam, enjoying the breeze and dreading the return up the hill we just hiked down. I showed Aunt Kathy the app FarOut introduced me to, Seek, that allows you to point your camera at just about anything in nature-animals and insects along with plants, trees, and flowers, and it will tell you what it is. We took pictures and simply enjoyed each other’s company.

I’ve known that I miss my family, I’ve known that I love being around them-but being with them today has made me want to hurry home even more than I already have.. it’s a strange feeling, to absolutely love the challenge I’m in, love the serenity of the trail, the people I encounter, meet, become friends with, and then to also be day dreaming about life after the trail already, about being finished.. so I can be around my family and friends and see and do the things I’ve missed. I don’t want to come across as unsatisfied or unhappy, because I’m far from both of those things-but I miss my people a whole lot.

Anyway-we hiked back to the car and then drove back down the mountain. Back at Wilber Dam, mom noticed a side road that went down to access the water. We decided to go that way and explore the creek. Water was spilling through the “overflow” thing-mom knew that’s what it was-and as we were exploring and using Seek to identify the wildflowers, the generators turned on and released some water, making the creek quickly rise within minutes. One second my foot was on dry creek bed, the next my pantslegs we’re getting soaked! It wasn’t the lift of a gate and a flood of water like I was imagining, but still pretty dang cool.

We left there and did some site seeing around the creek and the pastures nearby, fantasizing about owning land on the water with a cute little cabin or a even a hostel somewhere. When we started getting hungry for lunch, we went back into town and got Zaxbys-and took it to go eat at a picnic table in a park we had passed. Laughing and talking non stop, we ate and people watched and loved life. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing lazily, the skies were perfectly blue. I couldn’t have been happier.

We eventually made our way back to the cabins and explored around there.. down to the docks on the lake, over to the marina side, to a bench with a view. We ended on Uncle Keith and Aunt Kathys cabin porch, never quite catching up with all we had to talk about. This day couldn’t have turned out to be more perfect.

I got a call from Poptart around 4:30. I was expecting her call, knowing that if I missed her today, I’d miss her completely. When I started southbound from Harper’s Ferry, she started northbound from Springer Mountain in Georgia. We knew we’d eventually cross paths, but had we not been in contact, she’d have passed me while I was zeroing today! So, we made a plan to get dinner together tonight, as long as my family didn’t mind-which of course they didn’t!

Uncle Keith and I picked her up from the Dollar General in town that she walked to from the trail.. crazy girl could have called sooner and we’d have happily picked her up from the trailhead. I was so happy to see her! We hugged before getting all her goodies in the trunk. Because she was staying at Boots Off hostel, we stopped by there to let her check in and set her stuff up so her laundry would be done by the time she got back and her spot claimed since it would be dark after dinner.

We got back to the cabins and I introduced her to mom and Aunt Kathy, then she finally got to go shower-with moms nice toiletry stuff brought from home. While she showered, I painted my toenails while sitting on the porch of Uncle Keith and Aunt Kathys cabin talking with them and mom. I’m shocked we were still yammering on so much, not even so much as a pause in our chatter. When Poptart got finished, she joined us. She fit right in! There’s never a dull moment with this family.

We decided on Mexican for dinner, and loaded up to head back into the bigger city, as absolutely everything in Hampton was closed. The restaurant was the size of a football field, I’m pretty sure it used to be a Kmart or something.. it was ginormous! We all enjoyed our food, especially the cheese dip-the margaritas were subpar but it didn’t matter. Stuffed and wobbling out, we made our way back to Boots Off to drop off Poptart and then head home. We spent even more time on that porch before going to bed.

When mom and I finally did go to our cabin and get ready for bed, all I could think about is how I don’t want this to end. I don’t want it to already be the end of the night and time to sleep. But sadly, it is. We were all worn out from our sightseeing, good food, laughing and fun. I’m laying here now and mom is already sound asleep and my eyelids are drooping, but I miss them all and this family time so much already. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a tough one for me.. but this day has truly been incredible.

Sweet dreams.