Zero Day #1

Today we have decided to take a zero day. In hiker terminology this means that we are not hiking today. On Thursday while on top of Kelly Knob in Georgia I decided to check my voice mails. I heard the news that my great aunt Evelyn became ill from an opening in her intestinal tract. She passed away later on Thursday, and this event has hit me rather hard. I never really knew my grandmother, but my great aunts have always fit that role for me on my dad's side of my family. We decided as a crew that not only did we need to rest after our first week, but that they wanted to get me to my aunt's funeral just as much as I wanted to be there myself. We are not hiking today and will be attending the funeral in Belmont, NC. We are also using this day off to recuperate after a tough week of transitioning to the trail. We have experienced a few flat tires (blisters and foot pain) but we are changing shoes and carving moleskin and should be able to continue our "blistering" pace after a much needed day off. We will blog again later on today with pictures, video, and stories from the trail. Even though we have only been on trail for a week, we have hiked over 100 miles and met a whole cast of interesting characters. More to come later...