Fontana (4-15-10)

The past couple days have been tough.  The weather's been great, but I'm starting to run out of steam.

Wed morning, I woke up and had a big bfast at the restaurant next to the river.  I ordered everything they had on the menu and felt a little sick afterward.

The first seven miles that day were uphill and they definitely slowed me down.  I had a quick lunch on cheoah bald and got moving right away.

I saw my first snake that morning and it scared the cuss out of me.  It was a black snake, maybe four ft long.  I would actually go on to see two more snakes yesterday and today.

I did 16 tough miles yesterday and I told myself I would reward myself by doing an easy 12 today, but I still found it tough.  I'm at fontana lake right now which is a pretty low elevation - so, today was a lot of downhill.  My right knee has been hurting on downhills, which means I have to go really slow.

The shelter at fontana lake is really nice and there's even a shower nearby.  I feel much better after the shower.  It was so nasty, but it did the trick. You haven't truly lived unless you've toweled yourself off with a piece of shamwow!

Tomorrow we cross fantana dam and enter the smokies.  The plan is to meet christine near clingmans dome.  I'm just about to run out of food, so tomorrow and sat could be rough.