With the impending storm the four of us talked and made a game plan for the next two days.  Girlscout and the Gang had beat us to Loft Mountain and were nice and comfy for the evening. We decided to get up early and head to Big Meadows for the lodge and more stable structures to spend our time. Letting everyone know what we were doing we offered to share our site when we got it. We had been told that there was plenty of room that morning and we headed out to hike s far as we could.

Everyone met at the wayside and discussed the possibilities for the day, pretty much everyone was on the same page.  Squirt and Whoopee were going to visit family for the next few days so it was just us and the gang to keep each other company. Hiking out Huck and I both agreed that hitching immediately would give us a better chance to get a ride up before the storm started. The fog would started on roll in hiding us from view. Our vision quickly dismissed to just about 100 feet, making hiking along the road very dangerous.  We climbed to the first gap and thought we’d should just focus on getting a hitch instead. Standing there in the fog we did what ever we could to remain visible and safe.

Cars blew by us one after another, till one vehicle slowed and pulled over. To my amazement it was an old friend of mine from back in GA and NC, it was Turtle and she was driving through the range. Her and her friend were on their way north and were more than happy to drive us the thirty miles north to the campground. Thanking them and saying goodbye we counted ourselves lucky to have such good friends on the trail, showing up in our hour of need. Setting up camp we met the neighbors and were offered lunch and warm conversation. We were so blessed on this day to have such friends and company that we thanked them many times and counted our blessings.

As the hours rolled by the weather became colder, windier, and more wild.  Finally we heard form the Gang that they were close by and we met them at the site. Getting them set up for the night they booked a room for the next.  We were told that they couldn’t have more than two tents on the site and since we had a tent and a hammock we technically could take another tent. Girlscout opted to tent with us so the others could share the other site. Getting set up we all moved to the Lodge to recharge our devices and hang out.

Dinner was on our brain as we headed back to the tents. Huck and I ate, while Girlscout kept us company.  Pockets, Amelia Airheart, and Landslide were receiving some sweet trail magic of thier own while we ate. During dinner we played my favorite game, the question game. It’s quite simple to play it has just three rules; one, anything goes, nothing is off limits, two, whatever you ask you have to share, and the third, you go first.  I know rules are rules, there is nothing we can do about that. I enjoy finding out about people, seeing what they like and dislike, really getting to know them. We continue used to play late into the night when the rest of the gang joined us.

Just as we went to bed the rain poured down on us, so loud it was deafening inside my tent. I was quickly asleep that evening, snuggled deep within my bag and off to other world’s. The winds whipping my tent back and forth didn’t wake me till late morning. The three of us headed to the Lodge to wait for the rest to wake up. When they finally arrived we all settled down for a game of scrabble, of which Pockets was surprisingly very good at.  Quite surprising actually, he was soon crushing us.  Our game lasting till lunch, we soon broke up and went our seperate ways. All but Girlscout and I remained while they ate. She would soon take off to pack up her stuff, leaving me to write for a while.

I sat there wondering a bit, where will I go after this?  I’ve spent a great deal of time wondering this while hiking and writing. What happens when I finish?  I have no doubt I will finish, walk up to the final mountain top, drop down and cry.  Taking in the moment before reaching into my pack and grabbing Roland’s ashes, thanking him and scattering them to the high winds, saying goodbye to my best friend. From there where will I go?  Huckleberry and I have discussed maybe doing a six months at sea if I can’t get a place when I finish.  I will have some money to come back with at least not to mention tales upon tales. What if this thing I am writing is not worth a crap, what if it’s not worth reading or publishing.

In truth I thought deeply upon these things for a while, when Girlscout came back it was nice to have the distraction again from myself. She was so excited for her room that she asked if it was OK to ask again every twenty minutes or so.  She must have gone to the counter two or three times and been told not until 2. You could see the excitement in her face as she talked about the fireplace, balcony and shower. We joked around a bit before I get up to ask.  With my gypsy tough her room was ready and I had the keys in hand. She jumped up and down in excitement.  Her face glowing as she shrieked and smiled. And like that we were off to move her stuff over to the room. She skipped back and forth with joy while I tailed behind

Room open she ran in, looking at everything, her excitement building with each new thing she saw, truly a kid in the candy store.  It felt right to leave here there, so I bid her adue and walked back to our friends at the lodge. Everyone needs alone time now and then, to me it seemed this was the best way for her to get it. I returned to my writing while the others slowly followed suit joining back in to our scrabble game. We’ll I can’t really ay I got much writing done, there was the cutest little girl bothering me.  She must have been about five and was fascinated with the tiles on the board. Every time I would get it set back up she would pull them off and place them on the floor to play.

When everyone returned we played one more round before heading our seperate ways.  I was hungry and grumpy and joined Huckleberry in the bar for a beer. The Lodge’s wifi was shot and you couldn’t get a cell signal to save your life, which made doing any busy work almost impossible. I was getting super frustrated at the inability for the technology to work. The farther in the mountain range I got the less likely my phone worked. Huck becoming short at lunch and my grumpieness was a big indicator we both needed more alone time. I took off for the lodge and soon went back to my tent joining my neighbors for dinner. It would be hours before I saw Huck again. So long actually that I started to wonder and worry about him, he never came to camp after dark. When he finally arrived he told me he lost track of time in the bar and had been watching YouTube all day. Either way it was good to see him safe and back in camp that evening.