#117 Pick Up My Friends On Lake Mountain Road

We make a toast to, well, whatever experiences we can salvage from the trip.

I rise early, load the truck, grab breakfast from the hotel’s lobby, then drive nearly an hour up to Wind Rock, where I hitched down from last night, to get Uncle Lody off the trail. If they come through early enough, we can drive back to the hotel to shower before we drive two hours to Damascus to get Uncle Lody’s Truck.

I reorganize the truck at the trailhead so the others can fit in without a problem. I spend a little time stretching my stiff muscles and talking to other hikers as they hike through.

Five walks by and says my friends aren’t very far behind him.   

Medicine Man and Princess arrive first. They seem a little confused when they see me and the truck. I guess they didn’t see the message I sent last night due to no cell service where they were last night.

Princess yells to me, “This isn’t the two-hundred-mile mark, that’s five miles away.” The serenity I found yesterday and still enjoyed to this very second disappears in an instant. I went dark inside and yelled back, “Screw two hundred miles.” I know I shouldn’t have said that. The look on her face tells me she can’t believe I just said that to her, my best friend, my sister.