Day 24

Helloooooooo. We are about to get a storm, but before it hits let me tell a tale of our day. Today started not like most days on the trail , today started by being awaken by the sound of chainsaws and trees falling . At 620!!! So since we were awake and they weren't stoping we decided to get going for the day. Erwin Tennessee is 30ish miles from where we camped last night and we planned to be there in 2 and half more days . Doing high miles we really cut that down so now we are about a day and half away. One of our main motivators is that Erwin Tennessee has an ALL YOU CAN EAT KFC!!!!! So I kid you not all day long for past couple days Kayla and I say every 30 mins " let's go we can do it KFC KFC KFC !" Haha I'm serious that has been out motivation all week to do some extra miles. We did a hard 18.6 miles today with a lot of big ups and big downs. We only have 12 miles now to get to Erwin so we will get there around late lunch !! We are so pumped !! 

But let me tell you more about our day. Like I said we had a lot of big ups and big downs and the path today had more rocks and roots on it so it hinderd our pace even more . We started a lil past 7 this morn and we got to camp tonight around 635 so we did quite a bit of time on our feet today. 

I think yesterday or day  before we said he haven't been seeing a lot of wildlife lately but that changed today lol we saw probably 30 snails on trail today way more the usual and these snails were eating animal poop and dead insects . I never knew what a snail ate but now I do haha.  

Around noon today we just passed through a field and we stArted back into the wood line when Kayla started sneezing , once she stopped we heard something pretty big running along side us but out of sight . Kayla sneezed again and we heard it move again but this time it was getting closer ! We then heard a couple of loud snorts and then I knew what it was . It was a deer but this deer wasn't playing around , it was a doe and it probably had a fawn hiding in tall grass of the wood line and now Kayla's sneezing freak it out. So this doe pops out of brush probably 15 yards beside us and runs 5 yards back in forth slapping it's front legs on ground. I told Kayla to get behind me and start walking away slowly . I took my trekking poles and raised my arms and try to act as big as I could and started yelling at the deer. It didn't do any good ! This doe charged me !! It probably made it within ten yards but I held ground and kept raising arms and yelling at it . I then started to back away slowly from it. It is now behind us on the path just watching us ! We continue to walk away slowly to eventually I did not persue us anymore . Talk about an adrenaline pump !!!! I'm not going to lie I was pretty amped up. I have seen on Tv deer attacking humans and the damage they can do so I was aware of the situation. Kayla did ok she was definitely spooked a little bit but afterwards she was ok.  It was def a new experience for us ha. 

After the deer we just had some more big ups and downs . We came to a grassy knowl where the path went through about a mile of hill top where there were 1000s !!! Of little neon green and black grasshoppers ! There were jumping all around and all over us haha. We made it to camp and set up pretty quick . We felt air temp dropping we so didn't want to get caught in the rain, I can hear thunder off in distance now so we might have one in little bit. 

Hiking all day gives you a lot of time to your thoughts , and A lot of time you think of past memories . One I had today was one I haven't thought about in many years . Here it is. I was probably around 6 and mom said she was taking me to Walmart for a surprise because I have been so good lately . I was super excited and I been asking for something called a Gameboy Color , it was the newest handheld game device and everyone had one at school . Also the biggest game for it just came out too, Pokemon !!! So mom takes me to Walmart and says ok Daniel you can have the Gameboy and one game !!! I was SOOOO EXCITED , I already knew what game I was getting , Pokemon blue and that's what I got. Afterwards we went to bowling ally because at time mom was in a leauge and walked around the bowling ally showing my new Gameboy off to all the kids , I didn't know how to play game real well and some girl showed me how to throw a pokeball haha . I remember that day like yesterday ! It is a good memory ! I sure do have the best mama :) . 

But I still have some stuff to do tonight and I'm getting tired . I hope this posts tonight . If not I will post in morn or at Erwin . Goodnight everyone thinking of you all! KFC KFC KFC