Zero in Dalton!

Wow. What a couple of great days we have had. Things were looking bleak on Wednesday when we hiked an 18 miler in the pouring rain. It didn't stop all day, and we rolled into the shelter soaked and chilled. The next morning, we neroed (a term that refers to hiking near zero miles) into Dalton. Now there are hostels that are advertised in the guidebooks, and then there are people who host hikers but don't advertise. These are called "word-of-mouth" hostels. We and the 3 guys we were hiking with were blessed to have the contact information for a word-of-mouth hostel called the Birdcage. Our trail angel, Rob, took us to his home. We took showers and did laundry, and Rob drove us to an all-you-can-eat buffet (AYCE) where we stuffed ourselves to the point of being sick. We then headed to Walmart where I stood amazed by the selection and low prices. After resupplying, we spent the evening with some other hikers and got to know some new faces. Yesterday, Rob did us a huge favored and allowed us to slackpack 23 miles back to his house. This means that we left our packs and gear with him hiked from north to south 23 miles with only day packs containing food and water. When we got back to Dalton, we had showers, laundry, and delicious food at Jacobs (best clam chowder ever!). After watching the weather report and hearing of an 80% chance of thunderstorms, we decided to take a full zero (hike absolutely no miles) and stay in Dalton one more night with Rob. Tomorrow, we will hiked north and cross into Vermont! Hurray! And thanks to Rob, we have contact information for another secret hostel in Bennington Vermont where we will spend another night indoors. We are being spoiled for sure, but the experience is amazing and the people have been great! Currently, we have hiked 770 miles and have 596 to go before we hit Katahdin in Maine. We then have 819 miles to go from Virginia to Georgia before our thru-hike is complete. It's crazy to look at a map and see how far my feet have carried me!

So what's in store for the rest of our zero? Probably pizza and a movie marathon coupled with an Epsom salt bath for our feet (which do not hold up well in wet weather). I will never take dry socks and shoes forgranted again!