Day 15 - 11/23/08

Today was an interesting day. It started off slow. I packed up my stuff and heading out from the dorm went down without a hitch. I left around 11:30 and decided to treat myself to some Taco Bell before I left town. My sister called me and we chit-chatted for a while before she informed me she was about to eat. I finished my chalupas, saved my soft taco for later, and went to my car. I turned to the passenger seat to pull up directions to the Great Smoky Mountains (my next destination) on my laptop. When I turned around, there was a gentleman standing outside my window.

After getting over the initial startle he gave me, I rolled down my window to see what he wanted. He had the typical homeless look about him: Bad hygiene, lots of dirty clothes layered on sloppily, and something to keep his head warm (in this case a skull cap). He told me he was living at the mission for $7 a day since his girlfriend kicked him out of their apartment 3 days prior. He said he had heard that the place next door to the Taco Bell hired for day labor, but they didn't have anything for him today. He told me he hadn't eaten in a day and a half, and was starving. 

I told him I had no cash, but he was persistent. He told me he didn't beg for money, and offered to wash my car for a nominal fee at the Shell station next door. He informed me there was an ATM inside, and I could get money there. He looked desperate and truthful, so I agreed. However, there was a very long line at the car wash, so I offered to just pay him ten bucks so I could go on my way. I was trying to get to the Smokies before dark so I could set up camp before dark, and I was starting to push the envelope.

I went in to get some cash, bought a $1 scratch-off because the cashier wouldn't open the drawer just for change, I had to buy something. So I gave the homeless man (whose name I forget, but he did tell me he was a house renovator) 10 bucks and the scratch off. He scratched it, and then won $7 bucks. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so happy to have $17 bucks. I will admit, I was a bit disappointed when I wasn't the one who won the $7, because I had never won anything from a scratch  off game before. Anyway, I wished him luck and headed to the Smokies.

On my way there, I had to stop and use the bathroom because of the massive quantities of Mountain Dew I drank at Taco Bell. When I stopped, I bought two scratch off tickets thinking maybe I would get lucky the way the Renovator did. And wouldn't you know it, I won $17 dollars and a free ticket. It was like karmic payback for doing a good thing. I made up the money I gave him, the money I spent on the lotto ticket for him, and the $7 he won. So I thought, maybe I'll get lucky again! So I took $14 in cash, and $4 in  scratch offs. None of those were productive. 

I stopped off at Tallula Gorge in northern Georgia on my way to the Smokies. Let me tell you, that was quite a sight. They didn't have anything saying exactly how far down it was, but I estimate it was about 250-350 feet of trees and rocks. At the very bottom was a fast paced river. I took a picture or two, but trust me, they do not do it justice. The view from the top was dizzying at first glance, bordering on vertigo. Definitely worth the 25 minute stop.

I finally got to the Great Smoky Mountains around 4:45, and took another 15 minutes trying to find my campsite. I set up everything just in time for the arrival of nighttime. I tried to make hot chocolate, but to make a long story short, it didn't work. By the time I decided I wanted to make a fire to keep myself warm, my toes were about to fall off. I didn't notice until I stood up from the picnic table and couldn't feel my toes at all. So I went in my car, turned on the heater, and put on 3 more pairs of socks to try and counter-act the freezing temperatures. 

Once I could feel my toes, I went into the extraordinarily dark woods searching for firewood. After what I would estimate to be about .25 miles, I finally found enough wood to make and keep a fire going. I brought it back to my campsite, and then spent the next 30 minutes trying to START a fire. I finally got it going, and spent the next 30 minutes trying to KEEP the fire going. It was barely enough to keep me warm, and I think the work I did keeping it going kept me warmer than the actual fire itself.

It got to be around 9:00 and the fire had gone out, and that's when I noticed the starts. Not a cloud in the sky, nor a light for 5 miles (save for the one inside the bathroom building 200 feet away). I don't know if you remember those big SkyDomes from elementary school or not, but the experience is similar. You know, those big, gray domes where you crawl inside and see the stars on the ceiling? Well out in the country, with little light pollution, the view is absolutely breathtaking. The phrase itself is trite, but apt. It looks like someone poked tiny holes in a blanket of black, letting the stars shine through. I wished to myself that Shelby could be here to see this, because it was our shared love of stars that brought us together in the first place. It really is one of the best things I've seen on my trip so far. I look forward to seeing much more of it in the future.

I decided to go to bed around 10 and try to block out the freezing cold by using my expensive propane powered space heater. It turns out it only heats things a foot or less in front of it, and was therefore useless to me. Before I completely gave up on it I had the bright idea of putting in under my covers (instead of just near them) so it would warm the inside of my sleeping area. I watched it for a second to make sure nothing was going to catch on fire, and turned around to get my laptop out. As I was pulling the laptop out of its bag, my bed suddenly deflated and I smelled burning plastic. I thought "Holy shit!" and quickly shoved the heater away from the bed onto the plastic floor of the tent. So I pushed it away from one plastic thing onto another. I realized my folly and set it upright, but not before it burned a few slits in the tent. 

Total extent of damage was a busted air mattress, holes burned in my bed sheets and my comforter, and a few slits in the bottom of the tent. I cursed the maker of that piece of shit space heater that cost me 60 bucks (plus whatever it will cost to replace the stuff it burned). It isn't totally the heater's fault for burning my stuff, but if it did a better job of heating in the first place, I wouldn't have stuck it next to my things. I put it behind me (metaphorically) and got on with watching Eureka on my laptop. I got through an episode and a half before my battery died.  By that time, it was definitely night night time.

I woke up around 1 bc my body said I had too much water before I went to sleep. I ran to the bathroom (not for urgency, but to try and generate heat), and back to my tent. The running caused me to be wide awake, so I started reading Into the Wild. I only got about 30 pages in, but it was fantastic. I wished to myself that I had the guts to go do something like that, but came to realize I never would. I wasn't too disappointed in that fact, because I like my life and the people in it. Taking up the life he led would mean isolating myself from everything I've ever known, which I am not prepared to do. 

I finally got back to sleep around 2 and slumbered through the 34 degree night. "What a day," I thought, "what a day."