Miles: 84.0 | A true zero day in Franklin — icing ankles, accidental Sesame Street, surprise reunions, burgers and milkshakes, and a live 80s cover band just before hiker midnight. Today is about rest, friendship, and letting the trail pause without letting the spirit slip.
I woke up around 7am to see Whisperer and the boys off on their journey southbound to make up the miles back to Deep Gap. After they left I climbed back into bed and iced my ankle. I tried to watch TV (which I apparently don’t know how to operate properly) and sincerely thought there were only 6 channels (I don’t even know, y’all) and ended up watching Sesame Street. I called my mom. Did some blogging.
Around 10am I got a text from Michelin:
“Hey. You decent?”
“Yeah...?” I replied.
A few minutes later was a knock at the door. Michelin has arrived! He wasn’t supposed to get there until 6pm! But I’m glad he was early. He came in and we hung out for a bit.
We went for Milkshakes at Motor Co. Diner and had some great burgers. Then we went to the pharmacy to pick up my new sleep aid (to hopefully remedy the fact that I’d slept a collective 40hrs in 2 weeks...). The script wasn’t ready so we stopped at the Lazy Hiker so I could show him their awesome beer. We found out there was a live band that night and resolved to come back. We finally got my medicine and picked up some snacks at the Dollar General. Then headed back to the room for a nap.
We left at 8pm to go to see the live music at the Hiker. So close to Hiker Midnight, we were tired but jazzed to see some of the local community. My ankle was also getting bored. The band ended up being this great 80’s rock cover band called Twist of Fate (how illustrative of our time in Franklin... you’ll see). They were awesome! After that we went back to the motel and showered (because we can!!) and went to bed.