Day 47
Miles today: 11ish miles
Miles so far: 871.2 miles
Campsite: Panhandle Pioneer Settlement cabin

The day started with toots to announce the fact that I was awake. Joey replied “Good Morning!”.  We were awake. It was another foggy day and were on our way out by 730ish. We walked 2 miles back onto the main road that were going to turn into the trail and will be about 11 miles of road walking. I had other plans in mind. Yes, I yellow blazed today and got a hitch to Bristol. I even wore my shorts and pink shirt to make sure I had better luck! First car passed and I stuck out my thumb… Nothing. Bummer. Second car passed, he stops. Yay! The bright pink shirt may have helped a lot more!

Joey is right there.

Once in Bristol, I resupplied at Piggly Wiggly and it felt like the store was limited, or maybe I couldn’t find everything. It was a little pricey-er too. Odd. Oh well, after resupplying I headed to the Bristol library. A nice lady offered me coffee and I spent a few hours there trying to recharge my battery pack. It takes about 6-8hrs to fully recharge and it was nearly dead. Yuck! Joey, who had walked the entire road walk here because he is not a lazy piece of crap like me, had told me his ETA would be 11:28am and like he said, walked in right at that exact time. He wanted to stay here to use the computer but was starving so we headed straight for the $7.99 all-you-can-eat southern buffet. It wasn’t much but it was plenty. Salad bar,  beets, coleslaw, collard greens, squash, rice?, gravy, country fried chicken and pork chops, baked chicken, corn bread and dessert. Oh my! I ordered a sweet tea (included in the price!) and oh boy, I may have developed diabetes! How do southerners handle so much sweet?! I couldn’t finish it. The waitress asked if we wanted it to go, we politely declined.

I made my way to Blountstown alone, while listening to the Martian. Great book, still. Decided to check out their library and charge some more. After an hour, I made my way to the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement where I had called to see if they had lodging available as our guidebook mentioned there MAY be a possibility. It worked! I didn’t know what to expect. Once I got there, Willard showed us the cabin. It had electricity!!! I can charge my batteries fully! Yay. Even had a toilet outside and inside, it was a single room with a stove, bed and dresser. 1800s style with the added electric and plumbing ha! The man was so sweet and apologized for the previous tenant who had been living in the cabin for 6 weeks and left a mess. It was completely fine! It was far more than we expected, plumbing and all. He even tried to get us some wood so we could build a fire but we told him we go to bed early so we won’t be having a fire. He asked if we wanted eggs for breakfast, we declined… I KNOW?! How could we decline that? Well, thunderstorms are coming tomorrow and we want to hit the road early.

We sat on the porched, next to the butter churner. (what’s that thing called anyway?) ah, I felt like a true pioneer..  Than checked my phone. I was barely getting Wi-Fi from the office less than quarter mile behind. Strong signal but only one flickering bar.

For the record, I let Joey have the bed. I had no desire to sleep in an old bed… Instead I opted for the floor next to some mice dropping. I layed my tent on the floor and then layed on it. Ah much better!

Alright time to tend the land, churn some butter and enjoy a tall glass of sweet tea. Sweet dreams modern pioneers. Happy Trails!

Ps. The photo below made me chuckled, a lot. I like how 9 out of 11 of these clans are wild, fierce animals then you got the “potato clan”. Ha! I’m a potato!