Our Adventures

The Big Adventure......

All I can say it wow. What an adventure this weekend was. As you all know Jason and I had planned a trip with our friends from Ohio to the Smoky Mountain National Park. We got a call from Amy on Thursday night stating that she had an interview with the Edgewood School district. If she got the job she wouldn't be able to go with us. Although I was VERY sad about the possibility that they would not be going with us but I was EXTREMELY excited for her since I know how much she hates her current job. Well on Friday I took a day off work. I got up at 6:00 and left at 6:30 to take Jason to work. With all the dogs in tow I dropped him off and then headed to the kennel to drop them off. After dropping them off I headed back home to look over the map and try to find plan B just in case Amy and Scott couldn't make it. About 30 minutes later it was off to get gas at Sam's and pick Jason up. After picking Jason up we were off. We stopped in Jackson, TN for lunch around 11:00 or so and called Amy. SHE GOT THE JOB!!!!! YIPPEEEE!!!!! I can't wait to hear about how well her first day in the new school will be. But, after hearing the news Jason and I had to decided what we would do. Would we continue to the Smoky Mountains, head home to Ohio, or just head home to MS. After about an hour we decided to just continue with our plan to go to the Smokies. We arrived around 5 - 6:00 pm. The weather was beautiful and our campground was really nice. I had picked a spot by the Little River. We pitched the tent and started cooking our meal. After dinner we decided we would go ahead and go to sleep so we could get up early and start hiking. We arrived at the trailhead for the AT pretty early and got started. The weather was nice and we both looked really forward to the long hike to our first shelter. About 3 miles into the trail it started to rain. At first this was ok, we just kept on going, but then it started to pour. We got out our rain covers, rain jackets and our rain hats to cover ourselves up. After about 20 minutes of the downpour we both started feeling pretty miserable. We stopped so I could catch my breath and we discussed just heading back. This is the first backpacking trip I have went on where after 3 miles I was just physically exhausted. I think numerous things contributed to my exhaustion but I became pretty miserable. At this point I started to feel like the people I read about on these Everest websites. I know Everest is no comparison to the mountain we hiked but this was MY EVEREST! They always talk about having the feeling "Should I continue and risk getting injured" or "Should I turn back". At the time we only had about 2 miles of the trail left but honestly, I knew I couldn't make it any further. So, after a few minutes in the downpour just standing and thinking we both decided to go back. There was another trailhead entrance about a mile from where we stood. I told Jason I knew I couldn't make it back the 3 miles we had hiked so I said a prayer. I asked God to either have someone waiting at that trailhead so we could hitchhike or have a ranger there that could help. Not 2 minutes later we ran into an AT Trailrunner. We told him our situation and he told me to sit a few feet in from the trailhead and have Jason head back to pick up the Jeep so I wouldn't have to walk. At this time I was so weak that my legs were just shaking and I could hardly stand. So, Jason left his pack with me and started back toward the Jeep. I sat in the pouring rain and once again I prayed for Jasons safety and for the rain to stop. I promise again, not 2 minutes later the rain started to die down. So, I sat, all curled up trying to stay warm and waited. It didn't take Jason long to get back to the trailhead with the Jeep. At that time we discussed going home, however, I truly didn't want to leave. So, we headed to Cherokee where I knew there was a Big Boy restaurant waiting for me. Big Boy is one of my favorites. So, we drove and discussed what our plan of action would be. Would we find a spot in a campground again? Would we just head home? Would we find another shelter that didn't have a long hike to and hope a spot was open? Or, would we find a gas station outside the park where we could sleep in our Jeep. We stopped at a visitors center and pulled out our map. Low and behold we found a trail that would take us directly to the shelter we had reservations at and it was less than a 1 mile hike to get their. So, we decided that's what we would do after we ate lunch. Big Boy was AWESOME! As I knew it would be and we headed back to the trail. We hiked less than a mile to our shelter. When we got closer and closer to our shelter we heard a radio. NOT A GOOD SIGN! It was playing Pink Floyd, which is one of my favorite bands, but when your backcountry camping you expect peace and quiet. Once we go to the shelter there were 2 guys standing outside, beers in one hand and a cigarette in the other. They were obnoxious. We looked inside and noticed both had 24 packs and some of it was already gone. We unpacked everything and sat for a while listening to the music and then talk really loud. I was annoyed so I never talked to them. I ignored them the whole time. But, Jason was kind and talked a bit to them. Within the 2 hours we stayed at the shelter they consumed another 5 beers and then turned on the TN Game. BORING! So, now we're listening to football, which I hate, listening to 2 guys totally drunk (another annoying thing), and I was starting to feel uncomfortable being in the shelter. No one else was arriving and I was the only girl sitting there. I told Jason about how I didn't feel like staying in the shelter was safe. They were pouring beer outside our shelter which is a bear magnet and just annoying the crap out of me. So, we decided that we would pack everything up, lie and say I wasn't feeling very good and head back to the car. At that point it didn't look like it was ever going to clear up. So, at 6:00pm on Saturday we decided to head home. We filled up outside the park and started the 7 hour drive back to Mississippi. Around 11:00 we were just outside of Nashville and both of us was getting really tired. I told Jason I knew I wouldn't be able to drive because I would fall asleep and he was feeling the same so we stopped at a rest area and decided to sleep for a few hours. We woke up at 3:00am and started driving again. I-40 is one of the busiest interstate I have ever been on however, this time of night NO ONE was out. We arrived home around 5:00am and went to sleep. We knew we had to get up around 8:00 so we could pick up the furkids but both of us needed a few hours of sleep.

Sunday what a lazy day......

After picking up the kids we drove home and slept some more. We woke up around noon and decided to watch a movie. We also wanted to get together with some friends of ours we knew was home for the weekend. So, Jason and I watched Take the Lead, which was WONDERFUL. I know I'm a big tom boy and all but for some reason I really like ball room dancing. Weird isn't it? I told you I was very weird. Carie and Chris came over around 6:30 - 7:00 or so and brought cousin Tilly over to pay with the kids. Kenzie just loves Tilly. They really enjoy making out. We played with the kids for a while, Carie made some Chex mix and the guys sat and talked about Chris's new project. Chris and Jason are going to be working on Chris's Jeep Wrangler next week. Adding a lift kit, huge tires and other things to make it look AWESOME! After the mix was done we started watching The Sentinel. Around midnight they headed home.

Now it's Monday and the day has went really good so far. We slept in until around 8:00 and watched the MTV VMA's we missed on Thursday night. After that Jason wanted to go for a hike somewhere so we decided to go downtown Memphis to the Riverwalk. Once again, we called our buddies Chris and Carie and they decided to meet us downtown. We walked a bit around the city with Tilly and Kenzie and then decided to have an early dinner. After dinner it was off to Maggie Moo's. Now it's 6:30 and I'm waiting on Prison Break to start. I'm really excited to watch it tonight. One thing I'm not looking forward to.........WORK TOMORROW.....

Now, for a highlight of some of the photos taken this weekend.