Sunday June 10, miles today 5.6, miles from Springer 164.4

We were all up pretty early eager to get to Fontana Dam for food, rest and resupply.  Our packs were light as we were almost out of food.  I was first on the trail but Hellcat passed me at high speed.  We were all at the Fontana marina by 9:45 drinking Coke and enjoying the luxury of flush toilets and running water. There was even an electric outlet where I plugged in my dead phone.  At 10 am a hotel shuttle came and brought us to the lodge.  We were lucky and were able to check into our rooms immediately just before the breakfast buffet closed.  As we walked to the restaurant I remembered my phone back at the marina.  The guys went to breakfast as I ran to the lobby to try for the shuttle.  It had just left with three AT hikers but the receptionist call them back for me.  I met the three hikers including Cowboy who I had seen but not met Franklin, a woman called Short Punch who was hiking with a man with a trail name of Pikachu (who was delighted I knew about Pokemon).  When we arrived at the marina my phone was still there and my fellow hikers gave me a cheer.  We dropped them off at the Dam and returned to the lodge too late for breakfast.  I was allowed to go sit with my friends.  They snuck me some of their food.

At noon we went down to the General Store/laundry/post office.  We were a little disappointed because the general store had a limited selection for backpacker supply and the post office where I was expecting a food box did not open until 11:45 the following day.  We decided to take a zero day and stay one more night so we could concentrate on resupply the following day.  We finished our wash, picked up some beer and returned to our rooms for a little relaxation.

In the early evening I went down to the pool area to wait for the guys for our stroll to the Bar and Grill.  While waiting I met another hiker named Ray, he is from Sydney, Australia.  Like me he is a retired refugee from the Information Technology (IT) field.  We briefly compared careers and hiking experience.  When the guys came down the five of us went to dinner.  At the bar and grill we met Mike and Mike.  The seven of us ordered huge dinners with double vegetables.  We ate, drank, talked and laughed.  At the end of dinner there was not a scrap left.  It was the first time in  five days that I was not hungry.  It's incredible how much food is required to sustain this hike.  I slept very nicely that night.

The Big Feed ad Fontana Lake Resort. Clockwise, from left:
Obi-Wan, Major Tom,  Hellcat, Older Mike, Younger Mike and Ray,
June 10, 2018.