April 1, 1998
First call from Mike.  He's is now at Walasi-Yi Center in Blairsville, GA. He said the trail so far was MUCH MORE difficult than he had anticipated.  (He has blisters!)  He has met lots of people and will be hanging out with them for the next day or so and will sleep in a shelter tonight with a regular bed. The companionship has helped, and some folks have been quite helpful with his gear. He had a "dehydration problem" after hiking up 2 mountains - I guess we'll hear more when the "written" journal arrives.
Plans for tonite: To eat pizza and play pool (evidently they have a pool table at this shelter!!!) He asked that if anyone sends packages to also send a letter saying there is a package for him so that he will look through all the boxes that have been collected for thru hikers. The people that he has met are all headedfor Katahdin and they all have doubts that they will make it. But I guess their attitude is good and they're all struggling together at this point. Mike really appreciates that people have been in touch and that his sister is keeping everyone up-to-date on his web site. (yeah - a plug for me!!!)
If anyone wants to send anything at this point,  Fontana Dam would be the best place since he should arrive there around mid April.

April 10, 1998
Quick phone call from Mike.   He's in Bryson City on his way to Fontana Dam.

On Saturday, April 25, 1998, the HCCSOTWSHAWVR (Haywood Community College Society of Time Well Spent and Wild Van Riders) went for another round of adventures. We were chaperoned by Professor "Let's Go Another 10 Miles" John Palmer. We arrived at Lemon Gap (on the border of NC and TN) and hiked on part of the AT administered by the Pisgah National Forest. We ended the day atop the breathtaking Max Patch Mountain. At the beginning of our hike, we met up with a young man, Growler, who graciously agreed to talk with us if we would only let him eat. In between the dips of a bagel into a peanut butter jar, he told us he had been on the AT for about 3 weeks. He was very concerned about his BO, but I assure you, I did not notice any bad odor. He told us that he had free food the night before and he had eaten well with fried trout and the works. He was anxious to get to Hot Springs for more free food. He said he ate all the time, but that he had lost weight. I don't know what he looked like before, but he seemed pretty healthy to me. His mind was very clear but when he realized it was Saturday, he seemed concerned that he would be possible be held up for his next mail drop. Once he removed a hunk of jalapeno cheese from a ziplock bag and offered me a bite, but I did not want to take his food. Unfortunately I had nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so I had nothing to offer him especially after he had already explained that he was tired of peanut butter. He told us of some people he had hiked with:
Walk-A-Week-had only walked a week and quit, Weather Woman-her hips hurt when weather was bad, Minnie Pearl-she had price tags on her gear when she started, and Tigger-he called her Terret's Tigger because she
laughed and screamed all the time.
We enjoyed our conversation with him. We took pictures which I don't have developed yet. He asked if we would e-mail you and let you know he was still alive and I told him I would on Monday when I had access to the internet. We wished him a successful journey and continued on our way. What a day!! I identified about 35 different kinds of wildflowers and that's the whole reason I took the hiking course. I learned quite a few things from your brother and am glad to have had the opportunity to talk with him. You (you family) are to be commended for the interesting web page-what a GREAT idea! I will stay tuned to see how his journey is going and may even rustle up some cookies to send in a care package. Or maybe I could just send some cookies.

Paula Corbin <paula@eclipse.haywood.k12.nc.us>

Lori -

I met your brother this weekend at Hot Springs, NC during Trailfest. He seems like a great guy, and my girlfriend and I got to sit around a campfire with him and a few other thru's Sunday night. He seems to be doing well, and we shared some food, drink and companionship with all of them - all seemed to be in high spirits, and I was sad a bit not to be heading uptrail with them. Well, maybe next year!<g> I'm going to send a tent I invented to him and one of the other hikers - they're going to be field-testers for me - and I told him I'd send it to his next drop. He gave me your page as a link for scheduling, etc... Is the info here still current, to the best of your knowledge? I should have one finished for him by the end of the week, so I'll probably shoot for that drop on the 6th. Thanks for any help you can give - if it all works out good, I'll be saving him about 3 lbs of weight he won't have to carry the rest of the way to Maine - and thats something every thru hiker likes! Have a great day ! -

Walk Smartly -
Kurt
"kurt" <kurt@inct.net>