A full Hiker Hostel: Day 27

When I woke the next morning, my feet had swelled to the point I could no longer see the veins or bones in my feet. Well this is a new problem. Gingerly I set my feet on the ground and stood up. It wasn’t necessarily pain as it was discomfort, but there was no way I was hiking on them. Today’s mission was to deflate my feet, but first I was making myself a proper breakfast. When walking around town yesterday, I stopped at the Dollar General and picked up eggs, ham, and cheese. This morning I was making omelettes and I could not have been more excited. It had been about two weeks since any of us had had a home cooked meal and I was stoked. The taste of warm cheese filled my mouth as I took the first bite. Food had never tasted this good. Senior Moment had offered to give us a ride for our resupply so as to stay off of our feet. We piled in the back of his truck and set off down the hill. A half mile may not seem like much, but when you’re on your day off you want to stay off your feet as much as possible. First stop was Dollar General. I never knew how popular Dollar General was in the south but now I completely understand why. You can get every food item needed for a resupply in a Dollar General. Tuna packets, rice sides, ramen, protein bars, honey buns, peanut butter, and many more hiker essentials lined the walls. If we had Dollar Generals like this in the north our super markets would have some competition. After running around trying not to buy to much of an excess of food, we then went to Bluff Mountain Outfitters farther into town. Here Danny got new shoes, I got new inserts for my shoes, and Kyle stared at the ultralight gear regretting some of his choices and debating whether or not to buy new lighter weight items. We ogled at the gear for about 30 minutes before tearing ourselves away to finish our resupply. To our surprise, two more thru hikers had arrived at the hostel while we were gone. Throughout the day more thru hikers trickled in until it was at the maximum corona virus occupancy. 10 people. We mingled with the other thru hikers ecstatic to have so many people around. This was the largest group of thru hikers we had been with since before we had gotten off trail. People from all walks of life were with us and we were all equally thankful and happy to see that others were out on the trail. “Man I started 5 days ago at Standing Bear and you’re the first people I’ve seen. I thought I was the only person out here!” Mr. Jenny said. Mr. Jenny was a 55 year ex body builder who looked like Jo Rogan, Mr. Clean, and my uncle all mixed up into one. He was short, muscly, bald, and had his glasses hanging basically off his nose. He gave off this aura of wanting to be the cool 25 year old, but also an old man who needed help entering new contacts into his phone. This man would soon become not only our father but also one of the bros. We also met a guy named Forty. Forty was from Knoxville TN and was supposed to start on March 28th. Because of the closures he never made it out to the trail. A week ago he said screw it and started hiking from Standing Bear and was headed north. It was a comforting fact to know that many of us were in the same boat and just wanted to hike instead of being cooped up in a house. As evening turned to night, we head to bed ready to press on the next day. Our plan was to make it to Erwin TN before stopping again. Onwards and upwards.