day 57,58…raft trip and smokey park

after a 15 mi hike into erwin, 5 miles on the road before someone would pick me up. I made it to the holiday inn and checked in. did laundry sat in the hot tub, and of course took a shower and stocked up on beer and snacks. deb and the girls arrived at 7 pm and then we headed to dinner, where I proceeded to devour 2 dinners. seems only right given my anemic apperance. the girls are grossed out by my slender form? told you ,I now have the body of an 18 yr old!! it even grosses me out. we went for a ride on weds up to the smokey park and drove to klingmans dome. had to hike to the top and ,of course, it was socked in by rainy foggy misty clouds. I proceeded to cache some busch beer in a secret hiding spot so’s I’ll have something to celebrate with when I summit the highest elevation on the appalachian trail. pictures to follow in a couple of weeks. hilary was sick with the strep, so we had to wait at the local medstop while she recieved treatment. seems to be ok today,(thursday) , so we headed to the raft hq and headed down the pidgeon river for a short and somewhat tame raft trip. what the hey, it was entertainment for an hour. we are now in knoxville and at the hampton inn downtown and expect to attend a free concert in the park tonite,weather permitting. tomorrow maybe a movie,I heard that angels and demons is out? I gotta see that!! and the girls head back to st loo by greyhound fri night. deb and I will head back to erwin where we have reservations at uncle johnnies hostel, and hit the trail sat morning . she will hike for a few days (5) and drive back to st loo on thursday. then its on to the smokey park and the remaining 300 mi south to springer mtn. judging by the terrain profiles I’ve seen, there will be some pretty good climbs coming up. stay tuned!!