Getting stuck in the vortex of Damascus

Day 60: (June 12th)

There were so many people at the Broken Fiddle that morning. Everyone for the most part was planning to take a zero day that day, so it wasn’t long before people started buying the cases of PBR. We were all hanging around on the porch just drinking and hanging around for hours.
Harambe and I still needed to resupply, so we started heading towards Food City. We were being extremely lazy, and decided to try to rent bikes so we didn’t have to walk. Luckily, we found a store that was willing to let us use two bikes for the rest of the day. We rode over to Food City, ate lunch, and resupplied.
On the ride back to the hostel, we saw Gadget and his wife who offered to buy us a round of drinks tonight. We all agreed to meet at BoBo MacFarlands later.
We got back to the hostel and continued doing nothing with everyone else. Harambe and I decided to take our bikes along the Creeper Trail for a lazy ride. We rode until 5 so we could turn around and bring the bikes back to the shop before closing time. We returned the bikes with no problems and headed to BoBo’s.
The restaurant was filled with hikers. We saw so many different people there. Anyways, we got some beer and burgers as usual. We headed back, and spent the rest of the night hanging around drinking and smoking.

Day 61: (June 13th)

That morning, Doobie, Harambe, and I got breakfast at Mojos. It was delicious as always, and after the meal, Doobie headed to the trail. Harambe and I decided that we would probably leave that day. However, we were waiting for the rest of our trail family to show up. They were supposed to arrive some time soon, but no one really knew when.
Anyways, back at the Broken Fiddle, everyone was still just hanging out on the porch. There was always at least 2 cases of PBR floating around. We spent the rest of the day just hanging around with everyone and waiting for KitKat and Itchy.
Finally, around 6, they showed up. It was great to have the whole family back together. We hadn’t all hung out together since Hot Springs, and it was so fun. We all got some Mexican food at Hey Joe’s.
We hung out for the rest of the night just drinking, smoking, and laughing.

Day 62: (June 14th)

Everyone woke up hung over and tired that morning. We all grabbed some gas station breakfast and scarfed it down instantly. C Sharp rolled out right after breakfast in hopes of making it to the second shelter outside of Damascus.
Harambe and I packed up our bags, and decided to head out after a “quick” game of chess. Needless to say, it was not very quick, and one game turned into 3. Hours passed, and we still were hanging around the Broken Fiddle.
All of our friends were telling us to stay another night, and it was nearly impossible to say no. We ended up staying with all intentions of leaving the next day.

Day 63: (June 15th)

We woke up with every intention of leaving bright and early. However, as the vortex goes, lunchtime snuck up on us, and we decided to eat some food and then head out.
Sobo Mogley advised us to take the Creeper trail out of town instead of the AT. He said that it would save us some miles and join up with the trail just shortly before the Lost Mountain Shelter. Since we are some of the laziest hikers around, we obviously opted for the creeper trail route.
After a long session of goodbyes, Harambe and I headed down the trail. It was just as Mogley had said, flat and easy. We made it to the Creeper trail cafe in no time. Of course, we stopped and had some more food. We waited there hanging around and being lazy for about an hour. Then we continued on down the Creeper Trail. Shortly after, we arrived at the AT intersection. It was just a short hike to the shelter, and we were there by sundown.
We struggled with hanging a bear bag for about 30 minutes before finally getting it down. Just minutes later, we both were in bed and passed out.