First and foremost…Happy Birthday to the Greatest Country on God’s Green Earth! Last night I hammocked for the first time on the AT. I crawled in and was sound asleep in no time. I thought this would be my best sleep ever on the trail and it would have been if not for a couple of loud mouthed “cowboys” at around midnight. Living in Kentucky all of my life I have always had respect, and still do, for horse people. First and foremost, I was not aware that you had to yell to have a conversation while on a horse. Secondly I found it strange that 2 men were riding at midnight. I put on my flashlight to let them know someone was there just in case they had a wild hair and wanted to shoot their guns into the woods. Now for most people with an I.Q. of at least 80 this would have “Been Your Sign” that maybe someone was trying to sleep and you should … shall we say SHUT UP! Not these two mavericks no siree. Fortunately they yelled at each other on which way to continue their Midnight Ride and I am sure they soon found someone else to annoy. For the rest of the evening I snoozed away except to place my sleep pad under my body because my backside did get cold. With the pad underneath and using my sleeping bag as a quilt it was very nice indeed. With a decent night’s rest I was up and on the trail by 7:00am. I wasn’t sure if I were going to hike the remaining 23.8 miles today or split it into 1-1/2 days. I just decided to let the day play out. The day started out with a climb up Whitetop Mountain. Whitetop was an open Bald with more scenic vistas. Vistas have been the rule as opposed to the exception these past two days. I have been making really good time today. I attribute that partly to my short stops at watering holes. I now use a Sawyer 3-Way Inline filter http://www.sawyerproducts.com/SP122.htm. I use it in line with my Camelbak 2 liter hydration bag which hangs on the outside back webbing on my backpack. At water stops I use a cup to simply fill my Camelbak and hike off. As I drink from my Camelbak tube the water is filtered. I spend less than 5 minutes for the process. I am more likely to stop and have not run out of water as a result. Better hydration and more hiking time equals more miles. Soon after stopping for lunch at Lost Mountain Shelter I run into the section of the AT that coincides with the Virginia Creeper Trail http://www.vacreepertrail.org/index.html. As I come out of the woods I turn right onto the Creeper and cross over a small gorge on the old railroad bridge. Meanwhile Bicyclists go whizzing by on the mostly downhill stretch. About a mile later I am back into the woods and climbing. I reach Saunders Shelter at around 2pm and it is decision time. Do I stay here or go on and hike the other 9 miles today? A hiker there said his buddies had hiked ahead 2 miles to take the .5 mile side trail to the small community of Taylor’s Valley to a place called The Creeper Café. His said his friends are to bring him back a Cheeseburger. He proceeded to tell me about his friends but I swear I can’t remember anything he said past the word cheeseburger. OK it was time for action! I would hike to the Creeper Café and do my best to financially support the small community of Taylor’s Valley by celebrating this wonderful 4^th of July with mass quantities of grilled food. I cleared the 2-1/2 miles in about 50 minutes. At the café I feasted on a massive Cheeseburger and fries. Since it was the 4^th I also had to have a hotdog. After about an hour of rest I was ready to hit the trail. I was still not sure about finishing the trail today or just splitting the mileage between today and tomorrow morning. Again I would let it run its course. I started hiking and decided to listen to a couple of Adam Carolla podcasts http://www.adamcarolla.com/ACPBlog/ . Since I never hike with both earplugs in due to safety reasons podcasts are the logical solution since music in stereo require both ears. 2 podcasts and 3 hours later I am again on the Creeper trail heading into Damascus. I stop at the first snack place just on the edge of town and get an ice cream. Yep I just did 23.8 AT miles plus a 1 mile side trip. I think I deserve an Ice cream. I hiked the rest of the way into town to The Mt Roger’s Hiker Hostel called Dave’s place where I have parked my car. It is 8 pm. The hostel is closed for remodeling so I head over to The Place another hostel in town to shower. I stop in Abingdon VA. at the Huddle House for some breakfast. At 9:30pm I am on the highway headed home. All throughout Tennessee I am entertained by huge fireworks being set off near the interstate highway. My dad has a cabin in Somerset KY which I stop for the night at 1:45 am. I sleep there so I don’t arrive at my home unannounced at 3:30-4:00 and scare the heck out of my family. Last year if you read my journal I hiked around the same amount of miles on July 4^th. Last year my body was devastated. Not so this year. I owe that to a decent night’s sleep and my Sawyer water filter. I am almost ¼ of the way done with the Appalachian Trail. 504 miles of adventures, pain, glory, rain, heat and some of the finest people you will ever meet. Happy hiking!