There’s a half inch of slushy ice ball snow on the ground as we drive out from the back canyon in the dark. We’re on the road again, heading toward Amicolola Falls and Springer Mountain, the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
It’s Friday, 22 March, we will drive four days to Georgia. My registered start date is Wednesday, 27 March 2019.
I feel excited and energized, but not giddy or nervous.
This surprises me.
We watch the sun rise as we drive from Bloomfield toward Cuba, New Mexico.
Later, just after we passed Santa Rosa, New Mexico, we drove through an ice storm so intense we thought the hail would break our windshield.
When we arrived in Amarillo to visit my Mom overnight, it was raining. Then the weird, other-worldly sounds of tornado warnings started sounding out in the area of the city where Mom lived.
I had my phone taken apart and was charging the charger, battery and back up batteries as this was happening, so I didn’t get a recording of the tornado warning sirens going off. They sounded off in waves, so that the sirens seemed both near and far at once.
On Saturday we drove from Amarillo to east Texas, and visited Bear’s family.
Sunday we were back on the road.
That evening we watched a gorgeous sunset through our rear view mirrors.
We travelled east with the rain. Crossed the Mississippi in the dark. Drove across Alabama. And got lost for a bit in Atlanta. In Atlanta, the downpour reduced visibility and the traffic went far more miles north of Atlanta than I expected.
By the time we reached Amicolola Falls we were tense and tired. We slept in the camper top just outside the Amicolola Falls Visitor Center entrance.
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Tomorrow, Tuesday, 26 March 2019, I walk the 604 steps of the Falls and hike the 8.8 miles of the Approach Trail to the Appalachian Trail.
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