Day 3- Rain or Shine- 20.0 Miles

Ed celebrating his 500 mile mark with Audrey & Kevin

Keep Believing, Ed Reppin Memphis at the Stream

Trail Magic from "Punkin"

The beloved " Punkin:"

Still Believing, also a great view with the Camper in the back

Mike after that 4 mile Down-pour hike into Trimpi

Day 3- Rain or Shine- 20.0 Miles

Day 3 was definitely a day to remember from the rain, to meeting one of our good buddies so far "Fossil Phoenix". We set out early in the morning to accomplish our first 20 mile day of our trip. For some reason anything in the 20 miles feels awesome. The terrain for the first 16 miles was relatively easy ( no stones to walk over for 5 miles like day 2), and the rain was only slight through the trees. On our minds all day was the Grizzlies, they started their series with the Spurs tonight, which gave us a little pep in our step. We made a little 2 man conscience that we would take "Believe" pictures today, to rally our team, somewhat superstitious but we felt it would give Memphis the edge they needed (which obviously didn't work..ha). Also anything to think about other than... how far have we'd gone. So back to the trail, after 16 miles, we had our first encounter with what is known as " Trail Magic", which is exactly what it sounds like. Trail Magic is just an assortment of food that is stationed at certain parts of the trail by either previous hikers or generous locals. This time it was a woman that went by " Punkin", whose husband, " Hamster", was thru-hiking, and I guess a few miles behind us. She provided cheese& crackers, pepperoni, and an assortment of fruits. This was a great break, but the rain was soon to come. Oh yea, I forgot to tell you about Fossil, we met a really cool 65 year old thru-hiker by the name of "Fossil Phoenix", who we got to know pretty well hiking with. Our last 4 miles was absolute hell ha, it down-poured the entire 2 hours, and was not an easy hike to Trimpi, but we did make it, and after all we were going into Marion tom, which was enough to ease the pain.