Day 8 – Sun 2/25/18

Day 8 – ZERO’d!

Today, I had a complete zero day where I completed no positive miles. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express to rest my feet and ankle.

This morning, I woke up to go get breakfast in the down stairs lobby and ran into Sleeves and Noah! Sleeves was hoping to get to church for the morning, so he was trying to get out the door. But Noah and I had breakfast together!

I haven’t gotten the chance to spend a lot of time with Noah yet, but I stalked him on Facebook yesterday (yes, I already told him about it, ha!) and he is definitely someone I hope to get more time to talk to in the future!

Unlike many hikers, he is hiking with a walking staff instead of two trekking poles. It might seem weird in normal life, but that stuff sticks out on the trail.

After breakfast, we both went back to our rooms. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to see him before he got back on the trail tomorrow morning, but thankfully he added me on Facebook, so we are chatting about how I stalked him. Haha. 🤐

Around 3 pm, I started looking for what I was going to do about dinner because Sunday in a small town isn’t the place you want to be after 6 pm looking for a quick eat. I didn’t really want McDonald’s again, so I had my eye on the Blimpie just across from the hotel. I walked over there hobbled down there only to find they were mysteriously closed. The door hours sign even said they should be open, but they weren’t. It was a total bummer for me because I was trying to walk hobble as little as possible, but the Hardee’s was only a little farther down the hill, so I got a burger there.

Later that night, I decided to change my plan a little. When Life Alert, Michelin, and I got off at Gooch Gap and got a ride into Neel Gap, we decided to just keep going forward from Neel Gap leaving about 15 miles we didn’t hike. But as my mom pointed out, I’m a purist and not hiking those miles is weighing more on me. So, when I get back on trail in two days, I will be getting a ride back to Gooch Gap to hike to Neel Gap, then getting a ride from Neel Gap back to Hogpen Gap to keep hiking the AT.

Okay, that’s it for now.

Thanks for joining me on Expedition Elizabeth!