Ron Haven

Day 0

Last night we got our pizza. I must say, it was the best pizza in the world. On half of it we had pinapple, ham and bacon, and on the other half we had peppers, caramalized onions, and sausage. In addition to that we had 8 wings, and 8 beers. Needless to say, we had talked to Ron about staying an extra night and we worked something out.

We were sitting outside the room drinking a beer and Ron came out of the office after talking to a few other people and started talking to us. He said that since its the slow season he's not making a lot of money so can't give us the room for free, but said $20 will cover the night. So for a total of $16 for each of us per night, we were able to stay two nights and get our zero day. Then he began to tell us stories. He got into them and excited and made faces and all sorts of funny stuff. He offered to help us in anyway possible, and we realized that he is one of the most well known guys on the AT for a reason.

Last night we played rock paper scissors to find out who would get up to tell the couple who offered to drive us we weren't going, and Andy lost. So he went out at 7:30 to tell them, which we didn't feel bad about because they were right next door anyway. After about an extra half hour of sleep, we realized we felt like we slept in too much and got up for the day.

The day was fairly relaxed. Even though it was our off day, we walked to the outfitter which was 1.7 miles one way so I can get an extra shirt I needed, and then we went to the post office to drop some weight and weigh our packs. The weights for our packs are as follows:

Ian: Base Weight: 23.5 lbs
w/food+water: 37 lbs

Andy: Base Weight: 26 lbs
w/food+water: 41 lbs

We were pretty happy with these weights. We had full water and 4 days worth of food for the both of us so by the end of the day our packs weight less and by the time we are ready to resupply our packs are really close to our base weights.

We will head out in the morning after more relaxation and food. Fontana Dam is our next stop which is right before the Smoky Mountains. The weather forcasted is 3 of the 6 days we will be there it will be rainy/snowy and the other half will be sunny. It will probably be in the low 20's at night. So it's really a mixed weather report. The weather up there can change in an hour too so it really depends on the day. Other than the 100 mile stretch later on, this is probably the longest we will have to go without resupplying (6 days.)

In short, thanks to Ron Haven for the help and stories!