March 21: Joe's shake down hike is over and he comes home for Easter.

March 25th: Joe return to the trail with a much lighter pack.

April 9th: Joe has injured his knee and a trail miracle occurs.....Dave from Old Town is at Fontana Dam and his youngest son sees Joe. Joe was  a day and a half ahead of schedule. Joe, now know as Guns, was encouraged to pick up his daily milage by Cool Breeze. Cool Breeze is an EMT from Florida. The third hiking partner, Polywog, decided to keep a slower pace and was not at the dam with them. Joe, Dave, 3 teenagers, and a 8 year old cram into a Honda CRV and bring Joe back to Rock Hill to heal up.

April 17th: Joe will be headed back to the A.T.. He said he was tired of waking up to 20 degree mornings and hiking in snow and ice. The weather for the Smokey's was more of the same. Joe is skipping the Smokey Mountain section of the A.T. and start where the A.T. crosses I-81.  Cool Breeze and Guns are going to meet up and continue on together. They have decided to hike the Smokey's in the fall. On the A.T. there is no set agenda and its not a race.