Unshaven me.
Well, I managed 18.4 miles today. A pretty good fear considering that I managed to injure myself. I was stepping down off of a rock step (about 3-4 feet high), slipped and caught myself on my left foot. When I did, it felt like someone stabbed me in the leg with a knife. The pain was isolated to my left leg, about five centimeters above the knee, towards the inside of my leg. It hurt with each step I took. As I got closer to Standing Bear Farm Hostel, the pain was doing me no justice and was making me irritable. My irritability peaked at one point as I was walking through spider web after spider web and then a small fly flew into my eye. The sailor in me broke free at that point into an expletive extensive mini tirade. It ended pretty quickly, though, and I continued to press on.
There were many beautiful sights out there today, and it tried to enjoy as many if them as I could as I trudged the remaining 15 miles to the hostel in my bum leg. I saw many beautiful overlooks, though I had difficulty getting inspired to write anything. I think my brain was focused in mitigating the pain in my leg.
When I arrived at Standing Bear Farm, I hobbled in and they got me a cabin and I got a cold coke. And a cold mellow yellow. And a pound of salami. Followed by another coke and another mellow yellow. I got some laundry done, made two phone calls to friends to talk about my leg, then I called the nearest hospital to ask about coming in to have my leg looked at. The hospital was very nice and told me to come in tomorrow morning and they would look at my leg. I arranged for the hostel shuttle to take me to the hospital at 1030 tomorrow morning. I asked the hospital about a hotel close, so I'll probably end up there tomorrow night, then evaluate a plan after I see the doctor and get a diagnosis. We'll see how things go tomorrow. I'll keep everyone posted.
The hostel is pretty nice. I was told that a reporter recently called it 'dingy'. I couldn't understand that because it's a hiker hostel in the middle of Appalachia. That would be like saying you are at Waffle House and it wasn't a 5 star meal. Everyone looks at you with an incredulous look wondering how you could be so stupid. I met a man here named Rocket who has been working here for about four years. He decided to hike the trail after his father died, stopped here, worked for his stay, then stayed here for the summer and has been here ever since. He's definitely a good ole southern boy who knows how to get to things done. He's been managing the hostel portion of the farm, and got an ABC license to sell beer on premises. He lives in a small cabin and takes care of things around the place. He's actually a very interesting character. He reminds me a lot is the people I grew up with back in Arkansas.
Hope left me a box here stuffed with food goodies, and she left me 4 Heath Klondike bars--yeah! I was supposed to share them with Sonic, but she for here way before I did and I never did catch her to let her know. So, I shared them with other people. Thanks, Hope! Once again, you rock!
Everything else not withstanding, I really can't complain. I made it through the Smokies--they redeemed themselves enough for me to decide not to shake the dirt off my boots as I left. The walk down, outside of my leg, was much easier than the walk up. Hopefully I'll just have a couple of down days then il be back on the trail!
I have more stories of the Smokies and the hostel, but I'll save those for the book!
"The beard signifies the courageous . . . the earnest, the active, the vigorous. So that when we describe such, we say, he is a bearded man." -St. Augustine
ReplyDelete