The Castle

Jones Falls the day before


Moreland Gap Shelter to Hampton TN 10 Miles

Dawn came, and with it birds of a cacophonous chirping nature. I’ve been listening to the chirps of the birds and figuring I could write lots of songs by stealing their tunes. Some of these birds come up with some crazy intervals. I can’t stay asleep once they start; my brain is trying to figure out the tune and then they unexpectedly change it. I thought birds didn’t change their tunes? I stayed up late reading “Catch 22.” This book keeps getting stranger; but I like it. I ate my customary breakfast bar; more like forced it down, and then packed up as everyone roused and got ready. We only had 6 miles to go to the Kincora hostel where we are planning on stopping today. There should be a shuttle there to take us in to town to resupply. The forecast predicts a 70% chance of rain in the afternoon so we figured we had plenty of time to get to the hostel. Dad has been sending us texts from the National Weather Service to help us plan our days.

When we got to the hostel some guy was handing out cheeseburgers and they were GOOD! We didn’t dig the accommodations so we split. It was only a few more miles up to a road where we could just walk in to town. We hiked the 3 miles to a side trail that took us to Route 321 and then we hiked a couple of miles in to town and another hostel called Braemer Castle. It’s a huge house and there are so many rooms here, you can see why they call it a “castle.” It reminds me of the house I grew up in but bigger. We walked a mile or two to McDonalds to eat, Dollar General to re-supply, Meme’s Café to do laundry and get some caffeinated beverages then eventually went to dinner at Hillbilly Bob’s Barbecue and Catfish. We heard the Baked Potato With Everything was amazing but of course they were out of those by the time we got there; DAMN! Every bastard in this state has thousands of potatoes growing in their backyard and this place is out of them? We had some BBQ and then I went over to the local bar to check out the home-grown entertainment.

The band was cool: two guys on guitar and bass with a drum machine. They did that Wagon Wheel song from Old Crow Medicine Show. I wasn’t expecting that; Rolex has been playing that song nearly every night that we break out the guitar. The bar was interesting, I met a relocatee named Angela and we talked about the practice of starting businesses and the nuances of a Philly Cheesesteak. Cubit, HaHa, Cyclone and Rolex were back at the Castle, so I came back to post blogs and read my book.

I’m tired, and my legs are still doing this crazy thing where they seize up when I’m walking. I look like some kind of invalid walking down the street. When I left the bar to walk home my legs weren’t working right and I’m sure I looked really drunk, hobbling down the street like some moonshined, old bastard. I’m surprised the local sheriff didn’t swing by with a “Hey Boy! Where you goin’ to tonight?” I got back to the hostel and I’ve been loading up my blogs from this past week. Hopefully we’ll be in Damascus, Virginia in a few days. We just passed 400 Miles!

David AKA "Mister F. Gentle Spirit"


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