Tom Tom's fist ever hike on the AT

Tom Tom in backpack with Fatman losing weight before he was fat, this is just one of their early trips to the mountains.

The Last two videos of Tom Tom's AT Adventure

Tom Tom's AT Adventure 7   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHbxssgIx90

 Tom Tom's AT Adventures 8   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CgZ8HOUhEE

Thanks for all your support and thanks again for checking in on him.

three more videos of Tom Tom's Adventures

Tom Tom's AT Adventure 4   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvfPMAYkczc

Tom Tom's AT Adventure 5  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQf5s4_gby8

Tom Tom's AT Adventure 6   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcJ2ogIZm8s

All his videos are also on youtube.com

Videos that I thought I had already posted

All the videos will be on youtube.com

They will all have the title:  Tom Tom's AT Adventure  with a number of that video

Tom Tom's AT Adventure 1    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfxBPOs9qNY   

Tom Tom's AT Adventure 2    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELM3-h0QSk   

Tom Tom's AT Adventure 3     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95H0_ZBKkII

More will be coming as I put them together.  Thanks for watching....

Video coming soon!

I will be posting some videos in the next couple of days...  Thanks for checking in on Tom Tom....

Finishing the trail, Tom Tom made the decision to ride home with me.  He had a blast running on the trails, but he wanted to be with someone hiking.  When he ran with his big pack he spent most of the day passing slower hikers and swatting bugs flying around his head.  After lightening his pack and starting over he wasn't able to make the miles that he wanted to make.  He was a little scared when he started urinating blood from being dehydrated and overly strained.  Tom Tom physically felt good, but was kind of bored spending most the the time all by himself.  It would be so much more fun having some other trail runners hiking with him.   He had run over 110 miles including his restart of the first original 30 miles.  He finished all of the Georgia mountains and run several marathons distances wearing a back pack in the mountains.  He was down to around $300.00 with still about 2,000 plus miles to go to Maine.  He still plans on running the trail in the future; when the time is right and he is better prepared.

We drove to Helen, Georgia to have a celebration pizza in the cool Swiss looking town, a place he has been to before on family trips to the mountains.

White blaze of the Appalachian Trail... AT

Self explained

Tom Tom and Fat Man Losing Weight (didn't lose an ounce)

The ride home was uneventful except for another miserable night in the car with the heat and bugs at a rest stop along the highway.  We stopped in Gainesville to visit his brother Bryan.

Zero day

I woke up really early and drove to McDonald to use their bathroom.  While Tom Tom was still sleeping, I drove back out to Dick's Gap.  He was still sleeping, so I read some of the book until he woke up.

He had bought a small frying pan and some pancake mix in a Shake and Pour container.  We started a small campfire fooling around with rubbing alcohol and spraying Pam on the wood to start the fire.  His pancakes turned out pretty good.  By the time we were finished fooling around with the campfire, he decided that it was kind of late so he decided to hike a zero day.

We drove back to the lake, swam across the lake, and he set up his hammock for an afternoon nap and we took turns reading some of the book.  Went back to the grocery store and bought a half gallon of ice cream to split.  Went to the town recreation complex where we played a little basketball, really just him, and I shot a lousy game of pig.  Tom Tom talked me into taking him to the movies,  "Hang Over Two."  It was pretty funny.

Camping in the car at Dick's Gap was one of the worst nights.  It was really hot and buggy when we opened the windows.  Not much sleeping.

Tom Tom took off running with just his camel pack.  He was only going to run about 16 miles to Deep Gap.  About a mile and a half into his run, he ditches his 65 dollar camel pack, 10 dollar new watch, and 15 dollar water silver pellet purifier.  He said that he lost his upper front strap and the pack moved around causing him some chaffing.  He wanted to feel free so he unloaded everything.  He left everything out were some other needy hiker would easily find it.  He carried his wallet and cell phone in a bag in his hand.  He drank water right out of the streams without purifying.

I gave a couple of Canadian hikers a ride into Hiawassee, I met them several times on the trail the first couple of days on the trail.  Then I drove the hour drive around some of the mountains and used my GPS with coordinates that I got out of Awol's trail guide book to get to Deep Gap.  It ended, after a six mile drive up a gravel and dirt road.

Mushrooms growing on the side of the tree

I hiked three miles up the trail when I stopped to take some pictures of some big mushrooms growing on the side of a big tree. Before I could get the camera away, I heard the pounding of feet on the trail. No Way! I just figured that Tom Tom had to be at least 4 miles away, but I was wrong, he had just ran the thirteen miles in a little over 3 hours, mostly going up hill.  

Tom Tom climbing on the tree

Lake Bath

Tom Tom ran about a marathon with a 30 pound backpack.  He came across a bear, but he saw it first.  He stepped on a twig and the bear heard it and ran up the mountain in cover of the trees.  Tom Tom said the bear was pretty big. He stopped at a shelter and ate his three day supply of food.  All he had left was an emergency jar of honey. 

The next morning he ran about fifteen miles until he came to Dick's Gap, a trail head eleven miles from the town of Hiawassee.  He called me and left a message that he would be there for ten minutes and then leave.  He said he was out of food.  I didn't get to talk to him, but heard the last ring of the phone and checked my messages.  I tried to call him back, but he had already turned his phone off.  To save his battery, he never left it on.  The battery would quickly die as his phone would always try to find service.

I was in an Internet cafe updating his blog.  I had already paid my bill and left as fast as the computer let me post the blog.  I found him a quarter mile from the trail head.  He was walking the 11 miles into town.  He had no idea that I would be in Hiawassee, as we had made plans to met in Frankland the day after tomorrow.  I just by chance decided to stop in Hiawassee.  He gobbled up some food that I had in the car and we stopped by a lake so he could go for a swim for his bath.  I had been sleeping in the car and had gone swimming the day before in the same lake for my bath.

We went to the grocery store to get some more food and then stopped by a McDonald's so I could post some pictures on my facebook page.  Jonathan was reading the book "Just Passin' Thru" written by Winton Porter.  It is about the stories that Winton learns from and about some of the hikers passing thru his place of business, he is the owner of Neel's Gap.

We rented the movie "Salt" and watched it in the parking lot of the grocery store where we also spent the night in the car. 

At Dick's Greek Gap

Getting a drink near the lake where a bath was needed