Zero Day

Stayed in Hot Springs for the day to rest and get a few more supplies. Sydney and I got very light and compact sleeping bags and will send home our heavier ones. With the warm weather our bags were overkill, and we needed the room for food. I've decided to take more food when leaving towns and the kids can help carry the extra food.

Speaking of food it was a very good day for us. We split a box of cereal while doing laundry, then shopped for sleeping bags while getting lunch and I had a Kombucha. After lunch we went for a swim and had an apple and almond butter snack. While coming into the campground the kids started talking to Bill, the guy who assigns campsites, and he wanted to do something special for me for Father's Day. After the kids said no cake or ice cream he decided on corn and apples and dropped off a bag when he was done with work. He is very impressed with our hiking.

Other people we run into are also impressed, and the outdoor store wants a picture of us for the AT Hiker wall. One woman said in a southern grandma way "I only see people like you on the TV, your an inspiration". She also wants to read the book about our adventure. I'm thinking of updating my résumé to say Adventure Guide for my time at home with the kids.

Bottle cap collecting is a huge hit with the kids and they are all over while I cook dinner (wraps with salsa and red beans and rice). They have 30 organized by design. Kicking a ball around was fun till they popped it, but the owners were very nice about the accident and that's when they moved on to the bottle caps.

The campground is practically ours since it is Sunday night. But last night it was a party. This weekend was a big musical festival, old time guitar and fiddle music. Many of the performers camped at the far end of the campground and played into the early hours of the morning (but we couldn't hear them). What did happen is this.... I am at the bathroom with the kids when I hear "I'm 3 min older than my brother too", and it wasn't Harvey talking. They had befriended a guy who lived for a year in Santa Cruz and who played really good, and had 7 and 9 yr old daughters. He invited us to the back of the campground to listen to the music and told us all about it. It was really awesome.

The picture is the river by the campground, it has a very strong current so we walk to a spot with a lot less current. Yesterday when we swam, about 5 babies were also swimming, naked, and the kids, especially the boys, didn't know what to think.