Hostels are Magic – I’ll keep going

Hostels are truly magical places. I’d heard that before. But you really have to experience it to understand it. I still cried a lot – I’m particularly weepy and homesick – but this woman “talked me down” and gave me great advice as well as several phone numbers of others to call, or hostels to stay in if I really got cold again.

Today I’m taking a zero, and will try to pick up another layer, more glove liners (mine are pretty well eaten through), and some comfort foods so I’ll eat something the next few days. And of course, continue putting my feet up. I’m a ton better mentally, but still feel I need another day. It’s misty and rainy again this morning – I think I made the right decision. Pretty slow start, huh? Oh well. Nowhere else I need to be. Actually, I may take another zero at Neel Gap, because by then a wonderful group of hikers I met here – including the woman who calmed me down – will be there and they said they like slower paces, so I can hike with them for awhile. ACO and I are going to stick together until then, and she may come, also. But we’ve both decided to keep going. I’ve really turned around. I came here pretty determined to figure out how to get to Atlanta and a flight home, and now I’m set on trying a sunny day and continuing north.

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A couple guys with banjos and a fiddle were messing around, made for a nice atmosphere. Someone began writing songs for ACO and then others. A lot of people here have hiked a lot before, so they’ve been where I am – was – and were really great. Family has been incredibly wonderful and supportive of whatever I chose. Comments on my blog post have been pretty wonderful – though for the record, my trailname is Ent, and that’s the end of it. It’s a tree creature from Tolkien that moves, thinks, and talks s-l-o-w-l-y, but when they get fired up about something, they really go, and you want them on your side. I am now Ent, and I think perhaps Ent can do this. I’m not sure Sarah could, but maybe, just maybe, Ent will be able to.

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