Day 25 !

Well let me start out by saying today was probably my hardest day on trail. I will touch more on that in a second.  If you read yesterday's  blog we said we had storm coming in last night. Anddd oooooo we did , it was a pretty big storm  with thunder and lightning and all that jazz but the stuff that bothers me is the wind. Not because it's wind but what it can do. All night long I can hear trees getting blown over and branches breaking in heavy wind. So as I lay in my tent at night and I hear branches breaking I just pray there not over head and come crashing down on us in the night. We hear horror stories on the trail of people getting hit at night in there tents and some die and some get pinned until someone finds them. Since I knew storm was coming I tried to pick a spot that looked like it had good branches over head haha you know can't be to safe lol. 

When I woke up this morning I tried to get out of tent to pee but I couldn't stand up , I couldn't bear to put any weight on my feet without being in real pain. My feet have been bothering me now for probably close to 6 days and I think today they just had to push. I laid in tent for a bit a massaged them and took some ibuprofen . I packed up all my sleeping stuff in tent befor trying to get up  again. This time i could manage but I was still in a good amount of pain way more then the usual morning aches and pains. We started hiking by 7 am this morning , we still have KFC on the mind so earlier we start the earlier we get into town . We had a deceiving 12.9 miles to do today. For the first four miles I wasn't to bad pain wise and we had some awesome sites today.

One part of the trail lead is up through a Rhododendrum thicket following river . We are walking along and then I heard a loud crash and boom. I looked up and there was a black bear 25 feet from me. I don't think he/she heard us coming because how loud the water is. I didn't even have time to think I just yelled HEYYYYYY real loud !!!! and the black bear bolted up through thicket away from us!!! Crashing and blowing right through bushes like they weren't even there !! Of course it ran in direction we were heading but it was awesome to see another black bear , this is our fourth one so far. Kayla didn't get a chance to see him, she was behind me and it all happend so quick . After that we sang songs for about 15 mins being loud just in case bear was still near us because he did run where we were heading . We did not hear or see the bear anymore lol he prob heard our horrible singing and was long gone. 

A couple more miles down the path we came across another creature !!! This one  for more rare ! This was our first time

Coming across one of these out here. It was a tortoise!!! He was just chilling in our path minding his own business . We we walked up to him I said" Kayla !!! Hurry get the camera out before he runs away!!!! " Kayla just looked at me like I was dumb haha I was trying to be funny haha I don't think she thought it was haha he hung out with him for awhile and something I noticed on him was his breast plate moved on the bottom of his shell so he could completely close up so nothing gets in , not even my finger nail. I thought that was so cool I never held a turtle or tortoise that could do that. He was definitely one of coolest animals we seen so far !!

Just about after tortoise it went all down hill for me . I was in extreme pain!! Every step I took was worse and worse! Being in pain I started letting the small things bother me, like spider webs , humidity and the rain ! I was getting so upset!! I didn't know what to do !!! But then..... Kayla said babe I love you we can do this! And at first I didn't care I was just so upset and I knew we still had over 6 miles to go but then It sunk in that I wasn't dieing and I could in fact keep going and I did . It wasn't easy at all I had to dig deep , this was a huge lesson to me . I had a great woman by my side encouraging me, I have all the support of friends and family back home and we are on a once and lifetime adventure ! But I lost sight of that all for a bit and got overwhelmed in the moment. Once I was back I just keep thinking grandma always says. .." You can do it Daniel , just put one food infront of other " and I'm not lieing I probably said that 1000 times in my head in my grandmas voice over next 6 miles and sure enough we made it !!! I definitely broke down some mental barriers today and I am greatful to have Kayla Marie by my side ! 

Here is some humor that happend today , we were coming down a steep slope and we hade a huge valley to our left and mountain to our right and we heard a noise and saw a turkey down in valley about 30 feet on bank. I pointed it out to Kayla and it jumped a flew about 15 yards and landed further away . Kayla and I watched as we walked and then out of nowhere ..... WHOOPPPPS  down both of is go on this slop ..we fell hard . And I even slipped of Ide of trail and was dangling over the side . We weren't on a cliff or anything but if I has some momentum, I could easily feel for awhile. But I didn't and I looked up and Kayla and we both just break out laughing hahaha  got up and continued on. 

I think a lot of you know how much of an animal lover I am and I hate killing anything buttttt a lot of chickens died today to fill this belly!! Haha Kayla and I have been obsessing about a KFC here in Erwin Tennessee that has an buffet !!! We made into city around 1230 so if you did math we did 12.9 miles before that today so we have a decent pace going! But we did make to the KFC AND BOYYYYY IT WAS AMAZINGGGGGG I had 5 chicken breast !!! 5 lol !! I couldn't stop eating !! I been craving it all week and it sure hit the spot !! Kaylas appetite has been growing too but it can't touch this bottomless pit I have ! Haha 

Erwin is the biggest city we came

Too so far and from where we wanted to stay from KFC is about 4 miles , after hiking 12.9 with hurt feet and now a full belly I didn't want to walk it so we started walking with thumb out . About 10 minutes go by and a big dodge pulls up and I run to the side and the definition of a good ol country boy is sitting there haha I mean he couldn't look anymore country . For one driving a jacked up truck, he had no shirt on, sunburnt , freckles all over , camo hat on , goatee, and of course a deer skull tattoo on arm !  So when I walked up he said " where y'all trying to gooo" I had to listen real hard because he sure had a Tennessee draw haha i told him and said I don't have room up front but y'all can't jump in back ! We said hell yes and got up in bed of truck , we talked through back window for awhile to we got to place and he pulled right up to front door to drop us off. I told him we really appreciate it and thank you, I shook his hand and he drove off . I can't say it enough that people like him make this trip special ! 

We decided to spend a little more money and stay at hotel with a hot tub!!! My feet could sure use it lol I hope nothing serious is going on , and they will heal up quick . We really can't afford to take to many days off . But I decided to blog early tonight so Kayla and I could enjoy this nice place and just relax . 

I really try to make blog interesting, I hope you guys are enjoying It ! takes me about 45 mins to hour each night to write all the thoughts and organize it. 

I really miss you guys and I love reading your comments each day ! If any questions or anything let us know. We are staying here tonight And not sure what plans are for tomorrow I want to see how feet feel first . I will rest ice and elevate them tonight and hope that helps . Talk to everyone soon !!

P.S. THANK YOU SO MUCH Debbie and Holly for sending us a care package of great food and gifts. We truly appreciate it more than you know. !! You guys are the best !!!

Man down man down !! 

Part of care package Kayla's sister and mom sent us! Thank you again guys! It was amazing :)