Erwin, TN

Snow sucks; it's pretty to look at through a window, but after three days of living in it, we are ready for warm weather again. Today we descended into Erwin, TN and got a lovely 45 degree temperature increase from last night. After finding a shelter for our temporary canine companions (another story entirely), we settled in for the evening at the ritzy Super 8 motel. It may not be a Marriot, but it beats the crap out of bunk beds in a hostel. We didn't mean to sound so depressing at the beginning of this post, but the weather definitely took a toll on us. We kept reasonably dry and warm, but we are ready to mail home the wool gloves and down jackets. All the flowers were beginning to come out in the lower elevations (were being the key word), and a few trees are beginning to bud. So to elaborate on the dogs, we picked up two half starved coon hounds about forty miles ago and went to EXTREME lengths to get them to town. Unfortunately, however, their predicament isn't much better, as they now have fifteen days to find a home before the "big sleep." If anyone out there has any interest in a couple of sweet pets, check out the animal shelter here in Erwin...Sam, these girls are ready to rabbit hunt. We will probably end up in Damascus, VA at or before Jessica's birthday, so we will keep you all posted. We miss you all and hope you can join us on the trail.