The Parade – around 1:30 Sat afternoon, hikers lined up by class (your year on the trail) outside the Sundog Outfitter.
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| Police lead the parade |
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| Bagpiper and Trail Club |
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| Miss Trail Days |
The fire and police departments took the
lead, followed by a convertible with Miss Trail Days, a bagpiper, assorted
vintage vehicles, and then the thru-hikers, including lots of trail dogs (who,
BTW, hike, too, and carry food in doggy back packs). Cole (a “section hiker”) and I parked near where
a pick-up had backed up to the corner.
The entire bed was filled with water balloons, super soakers, and
buckets of water. As the hikers passed,
warfare began. Some, like Daystars’
group, were prepared with their own arsenal of water guns. A few hikers wore raincoats and one donned
water goggles.
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| Not a great pic, but you can see the dogs alongside the hikers |
The Hiker Talent Show followed the parade at 4pm. First, up Monkey Impressions (the talent, not
the trail name). Though WaterBoy had
signed up, he didn’t show up, so emcee “Digger” Downs asked if anyone would step
in for WaterBoy. A thru-hiker jumped up
from the crowd and performed impressive monkey impressions. Next, Chatty Cathy and Company with “The
Hiker Song” whose chorus was: “Hey, Hey were the Hikers…” Strider performed an acoustic guitar rendition
of “No Scrubs” (TLC circa ’98), Beowulf presented his fire-eating/blowing
skills, Braid sang about “Pink Blazing” (when a guy follows a girl on the AT/
or general romance); the refrain had everyone in the crowd hooting along (like
owls). Tree Piper played his flute, and
T-Bone played “The Pink Panther” on his. There were lots of fiddles, guitars, banjos,
and even an accordion. Old Man from Maine
gave a pitch for his inn and shuttle service at the trail’s end. Before the winners were announced, we bolted
over to the pizza joint which was filling up fast. More stories and pizza. Then, back to the campsite for an early
bedtime.
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| Cole, Pants, Gribley, TaterTot, and Daystar on the lawn at the Homeplace |
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| Pants packed in 5 packs plus assorted supplies from home. Great job! |
Sunday morning, Pants loaded the Magic School Bus, and we headed north on 81 to Wal-Mart for resupply then to The Homeplace for an
all-you-can-eat family-style lunch. The
wait was well over an hour, which gave the hikers time to repack with their new
supplies. The hikers planned to eat leisurely
then hike to where they’d left the trail in Catawba (1.3 miles). Once the Magic School Bus was unloaded, I skipped
out on lunch and began the 6 hour trek back to Chattanooga.
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| The Homeplace (featured in the current issue of Garden & Gun mag) |
Some closing comments… the joy and enthusiasm among the
hikers are infectious. Esprit de la vie. Though they spend endless days on the trail,
once inside the Magic School Bus, technology prevailed. Cole’s ipod, Daystar’s laptop that I’d
brought from home, five cell phones – all connecting and swapping SD pic cards and
downloading music and pictures. Wires
and cords everywhere. They sang along
with Dolly, Beyonce, Paul Simon, John Denver… and even the Disney Princess
collection (the cd was in Cole’s car). I
felt like I was back at camp hauling around kids in the ole camp van. This Fab Five (including Cole, Daystar’s
younger sister) are all about living life.
Carpe diem!
