Mac n Cheese Motivation

After my hike yesterday, I had no motivation to get up and hike early...I mean nothing new but you know. I heard voices up by the shelter for a little while, but when I finally crawled out of my tent, there wasn’t another soul in sight.

I stopped about 7 miles into the hike to eat lunch. Pinch and Pistol were just finishing their lunch when I rolled up. They said this morning they peered over the hill down at my tent to make sure I was still alive. They said they saw little movements so assumed I was alive and kicking down there.

After some lunch, I headed back on the trail to finish into Fontana. While I was hiking I ran back into one of the hikers I met yesterday, Scott, and another guy, Little John. Not too long after, we ran into a mom with her daughter and niece who were camping by a stream. The daughter, Pineapple, pulled her ukulele out and played a song for us.

I got talking to them for a hour before I finally stopped procrastinating and started on the last 2 miles of my hike. When I got to the road, I got a pretty quick ride to the lodge in a fancy Audi.

I felt like my typical hiker trash self walking in with my pack on and poles in my hands. I checked in and hobbled my way to my room. I sat down in a chair and didn’t move for at least an hour. Everything was sore. My blisters hurt, my muscles hurt.

Finally, I motivated myself to get my clothes and walk down to the laundry room. Everything was dirty so I pulled out the rain gear as my attire. Since the walk to the laundry was so long, I just decided to wait it out. I met two ladies down there, Da Machine and Platinum. While I waited, I made some FaceTime calls back home. It made the time go by quick.

I got back to my room and still had to eat and shower. For like a week, all I wanted was a bath so I got a pack of mac n cheese (it was like 4 servings), made hot water in the Keurig, and poured it in the bag. Since the resealable part on the bag wasn’t working, I grabbed a safety pin out of my first aid kit to keep the bag semi-closed so the noodles could soften. While I was waiting, I rigged a bathtub plug with a ziplock and washcloth and started the water. I had hiker luxury at its finest - mac n cheese and a warm bath. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend.

With my muscles and feet feeling better, it was time to call it a day. I crawled into bed and felt as though I sunk into a cloud. Tonight was the perfect break and just the little quiet time I needed to myself.