Columbia MO to Dawsonville Georgia

Our morning at the Days Inn started as badly as it had been good the night before. Does that make any sense? I woke from a bad dream, a little later than planned and we went to breakfast. The woman working the room was angry and surly, the rest of the people eating breakfast were quiet and nervous seeming. Everyone else at the hotel was so nice that it was a bizarre way to open the day.

From there the drive was okay, but a bit hectic. We made sure to keep laughing, but I think we were both tired and cranky. We drove through a lot of states to get to Georgia and somehow managed to arrive just around sunset. We camped at Amicalola Falls in the mountains of Georgia where the Appalachian Trail begins.

Matt had trouble building a fire because he only had small and large wood but nothing in between to keep everything balanced. Finally the fire started to get big enough to cook on, and that is when the sprinkling rain began. We had just enough time to cook one hot dog each before the downpour started. We ate in the car in silence and then moved into the tent. Listening to the rain we both started thinking about how we would be packing up a wet tent and just got a little more frustrated.

The rain slowed down and we walked to the bathroom feeling a little hopeful that maybe the rain was done and we would get a nice breeze to air out the tent. When we got back we noticed that the water pump at our site was dripping water. Matt was able to get it to stop, but then he pumped it and a fresh flow of water began.. and didn't seem to want to slow down or stop. We called the lodge and they sent someone to fix the pump and we crashed for the night.

It rained even more as we slept, but was simply foggy when we woke. Breakfast was delicious at the Lodge, but as soon as we had packed everything up (wet tent and all) the rain started again. We were unable to really see the mountains because of fog, so we just drove to our next destination. I think this was the only day I didn't take any photos. Someday we'll go back, I think.

I promise that our next few days were much much better than these past couple. Stay tuned!