Mile 236.8 = TLC

I am taking a zero today and tomorrow here at my wonderful wonderful aunt's house outside Hendersonville. Getting some TLC, fam time, a bed, sweet cousins and an uncle full of AT stories! I love my family. So, yes! My first days off. I am more tired than I thought I would be. Weird to be in clothes, not walking.
Sorry for the lack of updates. I have generally forgotten about the existence of my cell phone, and have been very much living in the moment. The Appalachian Trail took me up and down up and down many miles through the Smokies, and I am falling head over heels in love with the path. I feel alive, and outside. I have many new nicknames... 1)Drowned Rat - Osprey calls me this after a crazy rainstorm from the NOC to Sassafras where I literally lost purpose and sense of what "dry" meant. Hysterical day! 2)Big Tough Dog - a name for this cat who needs to be more intense when the two hawks - osprey and hawk- think they can take an Alleycat. 3)Half-plate - sigh. Mom, I guess I am still a comparatively tiny tummy. This I am working on.
Oh the Smokies! They were not red, and they did not kill me, but instead filled me up with amazing views and a few new friendships. Pretty crowded in some parts, but we really were so blessed with perfect weather (minus an inch of snow on the first morning). Wild amounts of ice after Clingman's and up Newfound gap. Could have sent some tapes into America's Funniest Home Videos! I laugh all day long. My sweet grandfather brought me, Osprey and Hawk a real feast at Newfound Gap, and we grilled up Omaha steaks that night! I loveeee you Gramps. Love love love love !!!
I can't wait to hit the trail again. I'm pretty tired and feeling inarticulate as I write this, but just to let yall know, I am so happy, very healthy, and resting up. Leland, my dear brother, is coming out from Monday to Sunday/Monday, and this only increases my joy of what is to come. I think often of Psalm 24.
"The mountains are calling, and I must go." -John Muir