Elizabethton, TN

well, it has been a crazy few days since erwin....we are a little more than 400 miles into the trail, and about 3 days away from Damascus, VA.  we left erwin around dinner time, and got to a shelter about 4 miles up the trail, ran into some of our friends, pixel, 6:30, gravity, and phlem. after that, the trail kicked our asses for a few more days...whew..this doesn't really get any easier.  BUT we hiked up some AMAZING mountains, little hump, and hump mountain were some of our favorites.  after a INSANELY hard mountain, called roan mountain, we camped at the highest (elevation wise) shelter, a converted fire warden's cabin with our friends, and made a delicious dinner of velveeta and ramps that we picked ourselves.  before we hiked up that mountain though, we met some bikers who were scouting a route through the mountains for a charity ride, and i met a meathead named BRUTUS...definitely took a picture with him.  then when i mentioned how much i loved the south, one of the bikers said, "well move on down here and i'll buy you a doublewide!"  they sure know how to make the ladies feel special down here.  haha.  the next day we stopped to have lunch at a shelter that used to be a barn, with a gorgeous view into a beautiful valley.  we spent about 3 hours lounging in the grass and eating a long lunch, then hiked up the humps, fantasitc balds with 360 degree views...it felt like we were in lord of the rings.  we camped at doll flats on the NC-TN boarder, and nero'd into elk park to get our mail drops! thank you everyone who sent fun goodies for us!!  we met some, ahem, interesting people...it seemed to be the day of crazies, after a shower fiasco, we headed to mountain harbour hostel, a farm with tent sites, showers, resupply, goats, horses...it was idyllic.  after showering for the first time in 12 days, we got some pizza with middlebury, then had an awesome night playing technology wars with vittles and jesus, two 'hikers' we have nicknamed douchebag one and douchebag two...fortunately their reputation spread like wildfire and they were kicked out around 10:30, so we got to watch pretty woman in peace.  the next morning we had possibly the BEST breakfast up at the farmhouse, homemade everything from biscuits and gravy, pancakes (with real syrup!!), ham, cinnimon rolls, eggs, fresh fruit, coffee...anything you could think of.  while digesting, we lounged on the couch and watched the news and read the paper...comparing different stories about osama (you think they heard that?? are we still stealth??)  while packing up we watched top gun (can our life get any better?) then hiked out 10 miles through beautiful farmland.  we then arrived at kincora hostel near hampton, and had a great night listening to gravity play guitar and playing charades after a group spaghetti dinner.  (girls against boys...girls won...duh).  we came into hampton the next morning to pick up our ipods that the best boyfriend in the world programmed for us...with our ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE playlist...just some songs that will give us the extra push to get over the next mountain.  we then came into elizabethton to run some errands and met the NICEST cafe/theatre owner, Thor, who gave us a free breakfast and is letting us see the 2pm showing of Fast Five...sweet!  life seriously couldn't get any better for the two of us...we are having the time of our lives.  trail days is next weekend! i'm sure there will be a CRAZY update after that is over!!!  don't forget to holler at your mom's this sunday!! love you momma raccoon! you are the best!!!  laugh track and i love life!!!!!!!!!!  cool guys don't look at explosions!!!  peace out, a-town down.