Wild Ponies will try to eat you.

Well it's been awhile since I've been able to post. So this could be kinda long. Well last time I posted it was Damascus. That was awhile ago. Well we are at the point where we ridge walk. Which means you pretty much climb up 2000 feet. Then walk on top of this ridge for about 100 miles. Then you drop down 2000 feet into a town/river/major road then go right back up 2000 feet and get onto another ridge. Which is pretty much all of VA. For the beginning of VA we ran over a bunch of open fields and really big balds. Oh and we met the wild ponies. We were up about 100 feet above them as they came out to eat some grass on the field. Well I wanted to play with them because I heard they we pretty friendly. So down we went to take pictures and play with the wild ponies. Well we got down there and I grabbed some grass and started feeding one of the ponies. This got the attention of a couple other ponies. Well for some unknown reason feeding them grass just wasn't doing it for me. So I grabbed a mini snickers. Well I've never seen ponies run so fast in my life. They heard the wrapper and ran to me. I didn't even open the thing yet. All they had to do was hear it. So by this point I'm in the middle of 20+ wild ponies all of them trying to grab this snickers. Ends up they start kicking each other. They get in some fights. So I start to ease my way away from the scene. Well the leader of the pack noticed I was leaving. So he freaking chased me down and started nudging me in my shoulder with is head. So I gave him the snickers. Once he ate it he decided he would lick my eye ball and he did. Sooo that's my wild pony story of the AT. Well that was day two after Damascus. Since then we've been doing anywhere from 22-26 mile a day. We are moving flying through VA. We will be able to keep this average all the way up until Vermont. So looking forward to the very fast moving. Our goal is June 30th and we are gonna make it. Well that's about it for now. It's hiking time. Later this week I will post a blog on what we do on a typical day of hiking. This blog is brought to you by "Hey Girl" by O.A.R. Oh yeah we are a 1/4 of the way done.

When things get tough the tough get going.

Well as I sit here waiting for these 400+ pictures to upload onto Facebook I figured I would update my blog. First I would like to think my parents for the much much bigger data plan. Instead of 300mb I now have 3gb. Yeah huge difference. Anyway last time I talked to y'all I was lusting over a Subway sub at Mountain Harbor Hostel. Well sad news. I didn't get my sub that day but I did get a 12oz double bacon cheese burger from a local joint that was very good. Do not worry though I got my sub only later in Hampton, TN. Well these last couple of days have been flat, flat according to AT standards. Not your Mississippi flat we are all so well accustomed to. So we've been doing faster miles since we've hit this flatter land which is good because that means we can move quicker and get done by our goal date of June 30th. Which will be legen wait for it dary. (who caught the how I met your mother line?) Legendary. Well we've finally reached two major goals. We've been now over 400 miles and we are in Damascus,VA. Yeah that's right we are in Virginia. Goodbye NC, TN, and GA. Virginia is known for it's flatness and so far it hasn't let us down. We expect to be done with Virginia in about four and a half weeks. Anyway we left Mountain Harbor Hostel and were on our way to a small stop in Hampton, TN. Took us only 2 days and some of the most beautiful landscape we've seen yet. Got to Hampton and guess what there was a Subway there. Oh yes a Subway. Two footlongs later I was on my way to Virginia and two days later we made it. The last day hiking into Virginia we spent in a "mild" thunderstorm. But hey as they say "No pain No rain No Maine". So now with "flat" land in our sight we will be on our way to finish this beautiful trail. Shout out to Anna Beth and Mary Kate Waldron. Tonights post brought to you by "Let Her cry" by Hootie and the Blowfish.

The 22 and the 24.

22 and the 24 miler. Well yesterday and today. 3-20-12. Were our biggest days yet by far and I have to say they were harder. I think the 22 was harder to be honest. The 22 was a big mountain then a bunch of small up downs. I did manage to fall on easily the flattest ground we've been on yet on the 22 day. Not just fall but a full tuck and roll. All I did was get caught up in a 5 inch stick. It was crazy. So Goose and I are now even on the falls. Well for the 24 miler we left this morning about 6:42ish because we had to make it to the hostel by 5 in order to catch the dinner shuttle for Subway. Now must of you are thinking something like "Leave that early just for Subway? Psssh no way." (see what I did there?) Well let me explain how good Subway taste after hiking a 24 mile day and coming off the trail. So picture this. First you're going to the country side of England where they have the best veal. You will run around the country side finding this glorious meat. Once you have found the prefect calf to produce the perfect meat. You buy it. No matter the cost. Now you're on your way to Maine to find the best lobster. You go to Maine find the best lobster fisherman and go with him on his run. Don't forget your scuba gear cause you're gonna hand pick that lobster from the ocean floor. Once you got that lobster go home. Now at home feed that lobster the hand chosen veal for three weeks. Make sure that lobster is nice and big. Now take the lobster to Emeril to cool it. Bam. He cooks it. Bam. It's eating time. Bam once more for good effect and out of respect for Emeril. Now eat this veal fed Lobster. Enjoy it because it only taste this good once. AND that's how freaking delicious Subway is on the trail. Anyway it seems that my legs are now in shape for bigger miles. Also we went over our last "real" mountain for good awhile today. Means flats and rolling hills. So we should be able to produce bigger miles. That is all for now. I will update later. Today's blog was brought to you in part by the following: "The Dance" by Garth Brooks.

It's been long enough.

Well the title is referring to how long it's been since I've posted or been able to post. Goose on the other hand has been rather good at this with his fancy Iphone 4Gs (Parents send me one and more blogs will come or give me more data to play with) anyway in the last post two things were really messed up. The grammar and Standing Indian Mountain is not the tallest mountain south of Clingsman dome. To explain my grammar problem. There was the German waiting for me to finish using the computer so he could check his facebook. He would ask me every 3 minutes in some really broken what I though was English if I was finished. Buddy you're in America and facebook isn't that important. But anyway let's move on. Well A LOT has happened in the past 3-4 weeks. Sickness, rain, lighting storms, and the Smoky (SP?) mountain national park. Let's get this started cause I would like to sleep at some point tonight.

Let's see last time I updated it was about Beaver Rat so that was awhile ago. Well we hiked from Highawasee to NOC. Then from the NOC (which I will either buy a house there to live in during the summer or I am moving there) to Fontana Dam then we started the Smokys. It was a two day hike from NOC to Fontana Dam. Where we stayed at the Fontana "Hilton" shelter. Supposedly this is the nicest shelter on the trail hence the nickname of the Hilton. To be honest just seemed like an everyday typical shelter but could sleep 40 instead of 6-12. Fontana dam was really cool. It was massive. Took some cool pictures. Then we started to smokys expecting to finish it in about 5-6 days because we were meeting Goose's parents at I-10 to go into town for a half day. Well the start of the smokys were nice and it was cold. Freaking cold. Being from the South Mississippi I typically avoid all weather under 40 degrees. Well the Smokys decided that the high would be in the 40s for the 6 days we spent in it. The Smokys can be described in three very simple words. Up. Down. Repeat. If you were curious to where you were going just look for the highest peak. You were going over the center of that peak only to be surprised by a much larger peak on the other side that you were also going to go straight over and of course back down the other side just as fast as you came up it. For the first 3 days all the way to Clingmans dome it was cloudy, very very windy, and also very cold. Didn't really get to get any cool pictures until the last 3 days. We did get some snow which was kinda cool because I never really get to see snow. So anyway we made it clingmans dome only to be met by hurricane force winds. In all seriousness this wind pushed me across the tower on top of clingmans dome. It was crazy. On the way down from Clingmans dome to the next shelter we were hiking on ice down the trail. Well more of sliding the actual hiking which made for a lot of great laughs. If anyone knows Goose (JT) he's tends to be rather clumsy with his size 15 feet. So it was pretty funny watching him lose his balance. He only fell once though but it was a great fall. I was ahead of him sliding down the trail and I started to lose my balance, you know the whole arms flailing only one foot on the trail stance, Goose though this was funny and began to laugh at me. Well as soon as he started to laugh he lost his balance and just ate it. Karma at it's best. Anyway finally the weather cleared up and got to really see the beautiful Smokys. So day 6 rolled around and we only had 10 miles to I-10. We knew it was going to be a town day and our packs weighted next to nothing so we flew down the mountain. It took up 2 hours and 38 minutes including breaks to go the 10 miles. We were excited for some Taco Bell. So excited I actually ended up spending $16.54 at Taco Bell (sorry daddy). But on the way down the mountain we crossed this stream about 7 times. Well at first we both were very careful at where we stepped on the rocks instead of flying down the river so we didn't fall in. But I guess at one point Goose just got tired and decided he was going to 1 step the river. Oh man the funniest thing yet. Yeah he 1 stepped it alright. Right into the river. I was laughing so hard I nearly fell in myself. I took a picture of the spot so he wouldn't forget. So we met his parents went to taco bell, got a shower, slept in a real bed, and got to resupply at a Wal-Mart. CLUTCH.

Got back to the trail the next on our 4 night 5 day hike into Erwin, TN. We decieded to up the miles so we did a 19 then a 19-13-19-16. Pretty easy hiking for the most part until the morning of the 13. IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THE NEXT FEW LINES I WILL TYPE AGAIN IN ALL CAPS WHEN THE NASTINESS IS OVER. So the morning of the last 19 I woke up packed my stuff and went and took my morning poop like usual. Then to go get water. Well half way to getting water I felt a little rumble in my stomach and ran back to the privy (toilet) were I again pooped. I thought ehhhh must haven't gotten it all out the first time. So I went on the get my water. Well soon as I finished getting water it hit me again. So I ran back to the privy took care of my stuff. Kinda got worried then. Only thing to do at this point was to hike and hike really fast to town. Well small problem 2 days from town. So I went on about 3 miles stomach lit up again except this time it was from the mouth. Vomiting. Not good. So after puking once more and pooping who knows how many times I made it to the next shelter were I saw Goose. Only had 9 more miles to go to the shelter we were actually staying at. So on we went. Well we get about 2 miles away and we are on top of this bald in a cloud. Well this cloud decided that it was going to start raining and lighting. By the way if you ever get the chance to be in the cloud that makes lighting do it. Really cool to see it happen and also very scary at the same time. So sick, soaking wet, and freezing we make it to the shelter finally. I get to the shelter dry off and jump in the sleeping bag. Off to sleep I went for the night or so I thought. 9:45 boom vomit number 1. With in the next 7 hours I threw up 5 more times. It was great.... I couldn't hold anything down. So the next morning I got up hiked 6 miles which took me nearly 4 hours which is retarded long to Highway 19 were I then hitched into Erwin, TN. Went the the Urgent Care there got all doped up and feeling pretty good at the moment. OK PEOPLE WITH WEAK STOMACHS CAN START READING AGAIN. So we took a zero which would be today 3-17 Saturday and will be hiking an 18 tomorrow. Staying at Uncle Johnneys Hostel. Pretty cool place here.

So that's all for tonight. It's 18 minutes past hikers midnight and time for some shut eye.

Thanks to everyone for the support back home.

Stephanie Russum (my lovely girlfriend)

Eric and Tracey Waldron (dad and mom)

Emily Riggs, Brittney Ainsworth, and Bethany!!! (BFFL)

and the rest of the wonderful family out there. Oh yeah I-40 not I-10.