(2/27/12) Bly Gap, NC - Phone Update From Brett

I missed a call from Brett on Saturday. I hadn't been expecting to hear from him so soon. Just the sound of his voice on the answering machine was nice. I was happy to hear from him again yesterday, though we were only able to talk for a few minutes.

Brett made it past his first state border on Monday (2/27/12), from Georgia into North Carolina. They set up camp (not by a shelter) about 0.1 mi past the border in Bly Gap, NC.

They planned a visit into town (Hiawassee, Georgia) at the end of last week. When they got to the road there was a "creepy guy" offering rides into town for $5. Brett and Ed opted to walk the 4 miles to Blueberry Patch Hostel instead, where they planned to stay. They were disappointed to see a sign telling them that the hostel was closed do to a family medical emergency. Luckily another hiker, one who had managed to score a ride with a "real, nice guy," showed up at the same time. This nice fellow gave all three hikers a ride to the Budget Inn in Hiawassee, another 7 miles down the road, even though it was out of his way.

Brett said that he hadn't had any blisters with all of the walking he has done on the trail. However, walking the four miles on the asphalt road was a different story.

They resupplied and ate in town, stayed at the hotel, and took a shuttle from the hotel back to the trail the next morning. Brett expects that in another 3-4 days they will be able to make it to Franklin, NC. The weather today was supposed to be good, however tomorrow's weather is supposed to be horrible. Brett is not sure how much that will slow them down.

Brett has been journaling quite a bit and is almost finished with his first notebook (single-sided handwritten pages). I have more here that I will have to send to him when we are able to coordinate a mail drop. So far Brett has been resupplying in town. It has been difficult to get the timing and the location right for the mail drops.

I had heard Brett mention that about 25% of the people don't even make it out of the first state. I'm proud of Brett, and I'm sure he also feels good about the milestone he reached today.