I made it over the mountains, and I’m currently in Sylva, North Carolina, couchsurfing. My hosts brought me along with them to a friend’s barbeque. I’m very grateful.

These past two days have been rough. “The Dragon” kicked my ass! I had almost no energy by the time I stopped to camp, which was just outside a little campground. The place was full, so I set up camp down the road a piece. There were picnic tables and it was right by a creek. Nice and quiet. No bears, although an old man warned me about them. Traffic wasn’t too bad over the mountains, but it picked up as the day wore on. No major incidents to speak of. Mostly motorcycles on joy rides. The climbs, though, that was really hard. I think it was about 1200ft in elevation gain, but you basically do it twice, then go downhill, then climb some more, and just keep rolling along like that. I wasn’t ready for it.

Today wasn’t as bad. Plenty of climbs, mostly rolling though. At one point I was completely drained. I stopped at the top of a hill at an underpass to rest. I couldn’t make it much further. The sun was brutal as well. After two bananas, an orange, and a kiwi, however, my strength was increased ten-fold. No joke. That fruit saved me.

Anyway, I’m going to get back to the barbeque. I’ll post more really soon, hopefully from Asheville. I have plenty of pictures. Just wanted to let everyone know I made it over the mountains.

Happy Fourth of July!!