UNDER WAY – DAY 1
Dressed and packed, I headed for the car with Theo, our packs and my trekking poles. My wife accompanied us to say good-bye and wish us well. I brought an old sheet for the back seat where Theo would be and a bag of bluetooth keyboards, bills, camera, cords and stuff to sort through at the Hiker Hostel in Dahlonega, Georgia when I got there. It was late afternoon. I’d make selections there and send rejects home.
After about 4 hours of driving, we pulled off the Interstate at Staunton (pronounced Stan-ton for reasons known only to southerners, I suspect), Virginia and I believe we stayed at The Comfort Inn just off the highway. The Innkeeper asked to see Theo’s Service Dog Card which I was happy to show him. I was also glad I had taken the trouble to register him at the National Service Dog Registry on the recommendation of an acquaintance who had done the trail without the service dog status and had to kennel him and have him transported at the Smokys and Baxter State Park at the end of the trail.
Checked in and Theo tended to, I headed off for dinner nearby. A picture of my meal tells me I was at a Mexican restaurant and that I was still eating at 11:00 p.m.
Back to the Inn, bed down and spend my first night away from home with Theo at the foot on the floor. He never came upstairs to our bedroom at home and was, therefore, never an on-the-bed companion which suited all.
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Fri, Feb 19, 2016 Up and at’em early Friday, our first full day out. I don’t remember breakfast but am sure I had one and then hit the road. After a couple of hours, I stopped to let Theo out along the side of Interstate 81 and took a picture of a lethal, spiny earth-hugging plant one would not want to encounter barefoot.
Somewhere along the way I saw signs for Hillsville, Virginia where my first daughter-in-law’s family is from. I have a vague recollection of stopping for lunch somewhere – can almost see it – and then carrying on to finish the 7-hour drive to Dahlonega (Da-lon-e-ga; not Dahlo-neg-a as I first pronounced it – learn as you go). Hold it! I actually drove to Gainesville, Georgia where I returned the car being a little surreptitious with Theo notwithstanding the old-sheet cover on the back seat.
I had prearranged for a shuttle (vital for a thru-hiker) to pick me up at the rental agency. Two rather back-woods, sort-of-scruffy guys got out to assist me and, I suppose, welcome me to the start of my adventure – however, mildly done. The conversation on the way to the hostel was matter-of-fact and consisted of my questions and their answers as to who they were to the hostel, etc. The drivers? General assistants? All of the above probably. They were not Josh or Leigh Saint, the owners whom I would soon meet.
We drove on country roads through the woods and eventually turned into the dirt or gravel hostel drive. It was neat and very clean outside and in. Theo had to be on a leash because of their dog who seemed nice enough. There were not a lot of people there at the time and Josh showed me to my room to the left under and beyond the stairs to the second floor. My roommate was Andrea. O.K.! This is new. Gender is ignored on the trail I guess – and so it was.
After settling in I familiarized myself with the rooms and layout of the hostel and, of course, came to what would prove to be the ever-present collection of Katahdin “THANK YOU” photos so many hikers send to hostels and others who made it all possible.
With a few around the table, a good supper was served from the kitchen (staff only!) at the back left of the cottage. I paid afterward by credit card slid through the vulnerable card-reading extension on an iPad.
After supper, I settled in and discussed plans and background with Andrea who was dressed in black everything matching her hair.
In time, another roommate, Mike, showed up and we all chatted for a bit when Mike suggested we introduce ourselves. “I’m Mike,” he said (trail names hadn’t surfaced yet). “I’m Soren West,” I said eliciting a rapid, bold response: “I KNOW YOU! You hiked by my house in Hershey, Pennsylvania when you did The Horseshoe Trail with your dog. I drove back to pick up a bandana you left just off the road a ways back.” Coulda knocked me over. I remember saying I was planning on thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail and his expressing interest in the same. . .but who would have guessed we would have begun to realize our goals on the very same day, both northbound, both starting from the same hostel.
What a beginning – and wait till you “hear” other serendipities farther north. . . .