Some pics

So there are 4-5 straight days of rain coming so we are taking our first zero day here in Gatlinburg.  3 days of straight rain has gotta be better than 4 days of straight rain!  And this motel is actually really awesome.  Its called the Grand Prix Hotel, and the dude who runs it is suuuuper christian.  Like he has pictures everywhere of J.C and preaches the good word everywhere, but he is a super awesome and friendly man.  You can tell he really cares about the thru hikers here.  And its only $35 bucks a night.  Split 3 ways...not too shabby.  It's funny, he mentioned "You can do almost anything to please a thru hiker, but a regular guest, you can't do ANYTHING to please them.  So true.  We are just super excited to see washer and dryers. 

  We have some free time so I persuaded my trail mates Simba and the newly named Bobsled to send some of their pictures over to my email so I could post some stuff...so here are some pics!

Here is me and Simba trying to hitch a ride into Gatlinburg, TN.  I tried for big smiles and I even tied my american flag bandana to my hiking poles to try and win some brownie points with the drivers.  We ended cramming into a small jetta that a kid about our age was driving.  He was taking a month off and driving all across the United States and camping whever he drove to that day.  Almost like what we are doing, but different.  I have a feeling I might do something like that right when I get back from the trail so I can hopefully find some cool new cities.  I have heard great things about Milwaukee from another thru hiker my age, so I might check that out.  I think Louisville would be cool to visit too.

This is me opening the window to a fire tower that sits on top of a mountain.  The big body of water in the pic flows through the fontana dam, which is really beautiful.  I'm not sure if you can see the dam in this pic.  Getting up to this fire tower was really sketchy, half of the guide rails weren't there, and it just seemed like a not so solid structure.  But an incredible view at the top!

Simba actually climbed ON TOP of the fire tower and took a realllllly awesome 360 panorama of the whole mountains.  He def has some balls climbing on top of the 150 foot tower like that.

Here is the road on Fontana Dam

Here is looking to one side of the dam

Here is a cool pic of me walking across the dam.  My guitar looks like some kind of rocket.  I need to let the air out of my bag.

Here is me and My crew, Simba and Bobsled.  Some of you might be wondering "Jeez, that guitar looks really tall, does it get in the way when ur hiking?"  YES.  Its super annoying, it always hits the bottom of branches.  And the guitar slides around a bunch from side to side.  It really messes up my center of gravity too while hiking.  I'm sure it would be a hell of a lot easier to hike without it, but NO WAY AM I SENDING THAT BACK!

Alright, I'm done here.  LIGHTHOUSE OUT!