Forget diamonds, peanut butter and twix are this girls best friends!

Yummm, peanut butter. I've discovered over the past few weeks that I eat roughly a lb. of peanut butter per week. I've also discovered, much like the shrimp ramblings of Bubba in 'Forest Gump', there are many ways to prepare peanut butter. If put on a pop-tart, it's much like a pb&j sandwich. It's also good on granola bars, cookies, tortillas, cheddar cheese, teddy grahams, and many more things. Peanut butter is not so good in ramen noodles or......ok, just ramen.
Ok, enough about peanut butter, here's an update on the status of my trip: I'm still having fun. After eating a BUNCH of delicious food @ Elmer's Sunnybank Inn in Hot Springs and enjoying the springs in the nude, we hiked onward, going up a MASSIVE, STEEP mountain right out of the springs. Why do all towns happen to be in valleys? Completely unnecessary.
The trail shelters got smaller out of the smokies, going from 14-person with a fire place to maybe 6-person with a possible picnic table. The privys also started disappearing, and people still apparently aren't schooled in leave no trace ethics, quite unfortunate.
We hiked for two lovely days, then it started to downpour @ about 2pm on the third day, as we made our way to the Hogback Ridge Shelter. Thankfully, there was still room in the shelter, so we didn't have to get our tents soaked, but we didn't make it to the shelter before my right boot got filled with water. Then the temperature dropped into the 30s, thank goodness for dry clothes! Not wanting to endure a full 15 mile trek to the next shelter in the morning, we decided to go into the closest town, Erwin, and stay @ the Holiday Inn Express and dry out our stuff. Unfortunately, they sent the shuttle to the wrong gap, so we had to huddle for warmth for 2.5 hours until it finally got to us. Yay pizza, beer, and hot wings!
The next day, we headed off again. It was colder, but not as wet. There was Greasy creek friendly hostel in here somewhere, with crazy neighbor Bill running his lawnmower all day and night.
Another day on the trail, and we got trail magic @ a shelter that is a converted barn- beer and chili! We outdrank the '07-ers (96 to 120!) I contributed by valiantly drinking exactly 1.5 beers. The next day we did our biggest mileage, going 18.5 miles! It would have only been 17.5, but we went to a steakhouse .5m off the trail for their all you can eat buffet lunch- yum! Then into Kankora hostel on cinco de mayo. We fit 9 people, their groceries, and one person's pack in the back of Bob's truck- with 11 switchbacks in and out of town, it was quite the adventure! Now after swimming in Watauga Lake, and enjoying a siesta, a few days later we are now in Damascus taking another zero and enjoying 'the friendliest town on the trail.' CC/Pocket Bear left us so he could get ahead of us and meet up after trail days, since we're not going. On over Mount Rogers this week, then into Pearisburg in about a week and a half!