Bubbles Spotts Farm (Saturday, October 8 - Monday, October 10)

Murder Worm, a friend we met on trail in New Jersey, invited us to stay at her family's farmhouse. It was a wonderful experience and one of my favorite zero days. It was rainy and dreary so it was a great relief to see Worm. She picked us up in town and we scooted off to the farm. We made a pit stop at the Wendy's and ate a meal together. On the way out I told everyone to grab a handful of salt and pepper packets. Worm was the only one to do it and she got so many! It was awesome. A fellow customer saw her and she quickly responded "for camping" I was laughing pretty hard.

After that we went to the store and got groceries for dinner. Murder Worm made her Momma's famous mac and cheese, Whiskers made chicken wrapped in bacon - stuffed with spinach and I made a salad. Dinner was fantastic. It was so good that everyone was super quiet. It was almost awkward for a bit because it was so quiet. We went to bed happy and with full bellies

The next morning we planned on getting back on trail but the weather was beautiful and we wanted to spend more time with Worm. Worm and Whiskers made breakfast. After breakfast we got ready for the day.

Worm took us on a tour of the farm and it was awesome. We saw the guest house, the pond, and the area where they have peacocks! We collected feathers and I was so so so excited. The best part of the day was four wheeling. We laughed so much. Worm took me down a really steep hill. I laughed all day and felt like a real farm girl. We had a dinner of leftovers and delicious meatloaf that Worms mom had made. When we all settled down for bed I was sad to be leaving. I had so much fun with Worm and I didn't want the weekend to be over. Worm and I have the same first name, Margaret. So clearly she is the bees knees!! ;)

 

Whiskers cookin'

Sprout Day 193 - Day 195 (Thursday, October 6 - Sunday, October 9, 2016)

We got up Thursday morning and hiked a few miles to the road that takes you to Trent’s Grocery. We weren't sure if we were going to go when we first started the day off but when we got to the road we figured, why not? Might as well go down and get some breakfast!

We were already wet and the rest of the day was calling for rain too. We went to Trent’s and got breakfast and some coffee. It felt good to get inside - out of the rain - and to get dry. As we were sitting there a few other hikers showed up and said they were getting off the trail for the day. The cold rain wasn't something they wanted to deal with all day. As we sat eating our breakfast and getting warm with coffee we decided that we didn't really want to hike in the rain either!

Sam, who works at Trent’s, offered to give us a ride to Bland, Virginia and drop us off at the hotel. We took him up on his offer and split a hotel room with Whiskers. Murder Worm was picking us up the next morning and taking us to her family farm house for the night. The weather was supposed to be bad the next few days so it turned out to work perfectly. We were getting off trail and letting the rain pass.

The hotel was nice and there was a gas station close and a Dollar General close. I picked up some microwaveable snacks and we laid around and stayed dry watching tv. It rained all day and night and was cold and windy.

The next day Worm picked us up at 11:00 and took us to her family farmhouse 40 minutes away. Right off the highway before we got there was a Walmart. We stopped and picked up food for dinner and breakfast for the next morning. It was so nice of her to come pick us up for a night off trail. She had her dog Taylor with her too. She was a great dog, I love meeting new dogs.

We had a great dinner that night, a fresh salad, homemade mac and cheese, and stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon. Everything was so good and we had brownies and ice cream for dessert. The bed was so comfortable and we slept so good that night. We woke up the next day and Worm told us we needed to check out the farm.

We eventually decided to stay another night. I'm really glad we did because we had so much fun and the property was a beautiful piece of land. We rode four wheelers and a Kubota around the property it was a lot of fun.

Day: 193-195
Miles hiked: 1.8
Total Miles hiked on the trail: 1586.2
Baby Bear: 1
Bald Eagle: 1
Bluegill: 2
Butterflies: 8
Chipmunks: 3
Cows: 24
Crawfish: 1
Deer: 20
Donkeys: 2
Grouse: 1
Horses: 15
Hummingbird: 1
Inchworm: 1
Really Big Dog: 1
Mice: 2
Moose: 2
Nest of bugs: 2
Newts: 2
Owl: 1
Rabbit: 1
Red Squirrel: 1
Skunk: 1
Snail: 1
Snake: 3
Squirrels: 12
Toads: 3
Trout: 2
Turkeys: 4
Turtles: 107
Vultures: 6
Woodpecker: 1

Smudgy Cheeks Day 29 (Monday, April 25) 204.5 Miles

We hiked 18 miles today.  It was mostly low altitude farm land.  We only had to hike four miles until we reached the Boiling Springs Appalachian Trail Conservatory.  We rested and ate there before hiking ten miles of farm land.

ATC in Boiling Springs

It feels great to be back out here!

Some of the property was fenced off to keep animals in (or out).  There are stairs that are over the fence so that hikers on the AT can climb in and out of these properties.  Sometimes you are in the middle of the field and there are horses and cows!

Hello horse!

It's always nice to find signs like this so we can figure out where we are on the trail

The cows were actually really nice but they were HUGE

Sprout and Bubbles behind me a bit

So many cows.  We had to be careful not to step in cow piles!

Stairs going over the AT

Up and over

Why is this cow looking at me?  I'm normal, right?

We stopped to eat dinner about four miles from where we are staying tonight.  Then we had to climb the mountain in the dark!  There was a beautiful overlook (and we got to see the land that we walked through) that we saw before the sun completely set.  When I got into camp I set up my tent and now I'm ready to sleep.  Goodnight!