We stayed in Franklin one last night to avoid the weather and got to buddy up with some hikers. The next day as I was getting on the hotel shuttle to the trail, Neon ran away and asked me to hold the shuttle. In all of the chaos, I got pushed to the back of the bus and was unable to communicate with the driver before he took off up the road. I shrugged my shoulders, knowing it would all work out. I hiked out alone that day and caught the sights from Silar and Wayah bald. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, and you could only see about 30 ft. I made it to a shelter that night that luckily had one spot open so I jumped in. A few of the other hikers brought their guitars and banjos and we had a make shift 'open mic night'. It included poetry readings, personal songs, and an amazing opera by a couple from Switzerland. Luckily that night, no one snored or tried to kill the scurrying mice so it was pleasant. Neon showed up that night and told me stories of his equally wonderful day before we drifted off into sleep. We got up early and busted out the first few miles before getting to Wesser bald, where we actually got some views! Then we got down to the Nantahala Outdoor Center and immediately jumped into the river. Little did we know how cold that water was! We dried off and I sat outside their restaurant, waiting for Neon to buy shoes, when a woman came up and asked if I was an AT thru hiker. When I replied "yes" she slipped a $20 into my hand and said to get a beer and a burger. Which is exactly what I did! As we chowed down on food, the waitress came up and asked us what we'd like to drink because a woman inside wanted to buy us a round. It was incredible to feel such support. We ended the evening sitting around a fire, getting to know more hikers. We grabbed a quick breakfast before hitting the trail again. A word of advice, don't eat a huge helping of biscuits and gravy before hike seven miles uphill in the heat... Luckily I had Neon behind me, being my own personal DJ and motivational speaker. As the day went on, the rain started to fall harder and harder. I got to a shelter and was only the 4th person in an 8 person shelter so we got to dry out our wet gear in the extra space. The rain was a torrential downpour for most of the night, which made the scurrying of the mice almost non existent. Unfortunately for me, they made themselves known in a different way that evening. As I slept soundly to the pitter patter of rain outside, I felt the cold, tiny, claws of a small four legged creature, perched on my upper left cheek. Realizing what was happening, I swatted it in the direction of Neon and could not stop squirming around until I ran out of energy. The rest of that night I could feel the disgusting tingle of norovirus lightly sitting on my face. Halfway through the night, the storm let up and the forest fell silent again. We woke up to a great sunrise and had a beautiful day into Fontana Dam, forgetting about our previous mistake and jumping into the freezing water once more. Tomorrow, we walk into the Smokey mountain range and are trying to avoid the snow storm coming in Thursday and Friday. We are at mile 167