Saturday, May 18, 2013

Erwin, TN 5/18/2013

I arrived at Uncle Johnny's hostel in Erwin, TN yesterday to get a shower, do laundry and avoid the thunderstorm that was forecast to hit the area later in the evening.

I booked a double cabin with Gronk, who I've been hiking with since meeting up again last weekend in Hot Springs. The hostel had plenty of rooms available, as most hikers jumped on one of the many shuttles going to Damascus, VA for Trail Days this weekend.

At 3pm, I took a ride in the hostel van with a group of hikers in to town to resupply and grab dinner. Our driver told us the story of Mary the elephant, a disturbing piece of Erwin's history.

My next resupply will be Hampton, TN in about 5-6 days, then I should cross the VA border in another 4 days.




3 comments:

  1. So, presumably everyone had showered before the ride in to town? I can only imagine what a van full of hot hikers smells like!

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    I'm thankful that you didn't decide to go to Damascus. I read on Yahoo (my only source of news besides the small amount of NPR I listen to on the radio to and from work), about the elderly driver who plowed into and injured approximately 50-60 AT hikers (who were in a parade at the time?).
    You think you are safe, but then something like that unexpectedly happens!!!!!!
    Please make me re-take my drving test when I'm old. I'd rather not plow into several dozen people on my way to bingo.

    Love you!

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  3. The story about Mary the elephant is so sad! What an awful ending to her life.

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