I slept to the sound of rain all night. The storm was far away but the lightning still lit up the sky, causing the inside of my hammock to look as if someone had turned on the lights. But even with the light show, I slept great. 

I woke up at 6 ready for an early day. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and must have held one of those blinks a little too long because next thing I knew it was 7:30 and I could hear Jack rabbit and McKay finishing their camp chores and packing up. I waved goodbye to them as they headed out and I began to pack up. 

The rain had thankfully stopped by morning but as I walked and tried to get the blood pumping to warm up, the hail started. It started out the size of small rain drops. Then it grew to the size of dippin dots. It wasn’t until I saw a few pea sized rocks come down that I started to get nervous. But thankfully it never got bigger than that and soon returned to dippin dot size. 

While hail probably sounds bad, it really wasn’t. Besides for the constant plink of frozen water on my hat, there were no real downsides. It bounced right off of me so I didn’t even get wet. And there were no puddles to avoid. I just kept on powering through. Then it turned to rain. 

I couldn’t put up my umbrella because the trees were too low and I didn’t want to put on my raincoat and get sweaty so I just got wet. 

I passed a couple standing on the side of the trail just as the sun came out. “Dark!” I heard. 

It was Knockers and her husband. I didn’t correct her on my name. “I was just telling my husband about you! You were my trail angel yesterday!” She said with a smile. 

We chatted for a while more and this time she was all smiles and sunshine. And so was I until her husband told me that the town diner closed at 2pm. I looked at my watch. It was noon. I could make the next 6 miles by 2pm, I knew, but I couldn’t dilly dally. I said good bye and put my head down.

I caught McKay first. He said something to me but I just called back “hop on the train. Diner closes at 2.” He joined and we continued to steam roll. 

Next we caught Jack rabbit (I’m still proud of this. He’s 2 years out of being a collegiate cross country runner) who jumped a foot and a half in the air when he saw me freight training up the hill behind him. “Diner closes at 2!” He didn’t seem to get the urgency. He just laughed and stepped aside. 

Sopping wet, after pushing us as hard as I could for 90 minutes straight, we pulled into the diner’s parking lot. The sign told us that while they close at 2 on Saturday’s, they actually close at 7pm on Friday’s. Our sprint had been for not. But all was not lost, we could still feast. 

We sat down and were soon joined by Rocket, Jupiter (so named because Jupiter is a gas giant and, apparently, so is she), a guy who’s name I never caught and, eventually, Jack rabbit. 

Over a coke float, chicken tenders, fries, cornbread and cobbler (they let me get a blackberry cobbler as my side dish!) we found out that the only way to stay within 5 miles of town was to either pay $25 to pitch a tent in the rain behind one of the hotels or find a hotel. But due to the hurricane that had come through the town last year, most of the hotels were closed. And due to the rain, the others were booked. 

In a last ditch effort, I checked Airbnb. A cabin popped up with three beds. Rocket, McKay and I immediately agreed we needed it. We booked it for less than it would normally cost to stay in a hostel. 

We celebrated by showering, washing our clothes in the sink, picking up a resupply and heading back to the diner for dinner. 

There was a wait at the diner this time and the guy in front of us was a party of one. “Want to sit with me?” he asked. Why not. 

We shared a lovely meal with Lou who had just retired and was in town to watch his grandson’s flag football tournament. He told us all about being a wind turbine engineer, his recent trip to the Dominican Republic, and his upcoming trip around the world he was planning. And then he picked up the tab! 

It was a lovely night and now I’m, once again, falling asleep indoors. Just last week there was a campfire ban in North Carolina because it was too dry and now it won’t stop raining. Fingers crossed tomorrow is dry! 

Key stats:

Miles: 15

Elevation gained: 3,100 ft

Estimated calories consumed at lunch: 15,000