Over the past ten days on the AT, I solidified many friendships and would become my own person – Optimist, they call me Opti. The group of thru-hikers at Neels Gap stayed together over these 10 days and became very cohesive because of our shared experience. We had a few days of rain in northern Georgia and decided to take it easy during this period with two nights in hostel/campground facilities with showers (The Blueberry Patch and Rainbow Springs Campground), a zero-day (0 miles of hiking) in Franklin, NC, sunbathing at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, and lots of good food sprinkled throughout. Don’t think we were loafing – 108 miles in 10 days – but we were going slower than many of our schedules allowed. I had scheduled to pick up a mail drop of food at the Fontana, NC post office and be through the Smoky Mountains to meet my family for Easter in Gatlinburg on March 28th – 70 miles in 4 days = 17+ miles per day. Another good reason for me to go slower during this stretch of trail was the issues I was having with a tendon in my right foot. I can now tell from my journal entries that I was not going to give up. I believe I had a “Never Quit” mentality, and I would have spent time in a local town or hospital to recover rather than taking the trip home. Although I was mentally ready for challenges like these, I was worried for a few days that this early issue could be my downfall. “3.14.97 Here at the Tray Mt. Shelter – only made 4.5 miles today b/c of foot. Plenty of good company here, though. It rained most of the night and everything got wet. About 3:30 and the sun came out. Tomorrow I am going to try and hike in my running shoes and see if that helps any. Wheat said that a couple behind us had to go into town because of the same problem and found out it was tendonitis. OH NO. Things are looking good except for a tendon in my right foot – maybe the Achilles…Life is good…3.16.97…I hiked in my running shoes today again – tried to put my boots and on it killed – going to call the store in a couple of days and get some [different] boots. Hopefully that will help my tendon…3.17.97…My feet hurt more today than they have yet because of these flimsy running shoes…Anyway you look at it, the boot situation won’t keep me off of the trail for too long. I have seen that it really doesn’t matter what kind of gear you carry because anything that will keep you dry and warm will work.” The miles in the running shoes (70 miles) must have given my foot the rest that it needed, because I did not have any other foot issues for the remainder of my hike. “3.20.97 Tomorrow will be a fairly easy 15 miles into NOC. My boots (new) will be there, but I wore my boots today and my Achilles felt okay. If it feels good tomorrow I may send the new ones back home…3.21.07 Got my free brand-new pair of boots in the mail today – and sent them back home.” Completed To Date (CTD):17 days, 168.7 miles = 7.75% completed.