Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Hot Springs, North Carolina
A Much Needed Day to Recuperate
"Zero Day" Number 2
After we took care of some shopping in the morning, with the hope we had learned something about buying just enough, but no more, food for three days on the trail; and purchasing X a better suited rain jacket and a new pair of shorts for her new “minus ten pound” weight (with N getting the old pair of shorts as a “hand me down” for his new “minus 16 pound” weight), the late afternoon and evening were devoted to two highlights of the entire trip so far.
We walked the AT to the other end of town and the French Broad River for a soak in a tub of Hot Springs’s famed mineral waters and a couples massage. N’s sore back really needed both, and X enjoyed the massage so much so she fell asleep during…We had anticipated a great gourmet vegetarian meal and stimulating conversation with Elmer Hall and our fellow guests at his Sunnybank Inn, and the evening did not disappoint. Special kudos for the pecan pie, which N usually avoids because it can be made so sicky-sweet. Elmer’s recipe tonight was right on the money, and the perfect end to a wonderful meal.
If we say any more about our second day in Hot Springs, it will be impossible for our readers to feel any sympathy for us once we head back into the Spartan life of the woods, or to believe we are having to “rough it” at all on the AT, so we will close until we’re back on the trail, walking to Maine.
There’s diamonds in the sidewalks.
Thru hikers line Main Street.
Here’s a town to rest yourself for anyone who’s beat
There’s pleasure for the taking,
for any hard walking (woman or) man
Who hikes the Trail App-a-la-chian…
[with apologies to The Boss]
Note: After two days of walking around town, and a trip to the post office to mail a few things home, Shock & Awe have become only a shadow of their former selves…