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I was going to start this log with "When we arrived in Georgia".  However, I wanted to let you all know my last day at work was a good day.  My projects were all completed.  I spent the day sending email to people telling them I was going and receiving congrats. They threw a going away party at work.  I even got to leave an hour early.

On the way home it happened.  I was driving down a two lane road, Pleasant Valley, in Fairfax County when all of a sudden a car comes speeding around

At left, me standing above the plaque marking the southern terminus of the AT.
By Mike Calabrese

the corner about 250 feet ahead of me.  It was passing cars at a high speed around a curve and over a double line.  The car then lost control, went off the road, hit a tree, bounced back onto the road, rolled once, then came sliding down the road on its roof toward me.  The car then bounced off another tree, then came to rest against my front bumper.  

All of this happened in seconds.  The car only hit me at about 10 mph.  I wasn't hurt and my car was driveable.  The two young men in the other car miraculously weren't

At right, a closeup of the plaque on Springer Mountain.
By Mike Calabrese

hurt--their car was totaled.  I had to stay there an hour and talk to the police. I was pretty shaken up.  On the way home, I was debating whether or not to leave for Georgia that evening.  

My wife, Nancy, was very reassuring so I decided to stick with the schedule. We left about an hour after I arrived at my home.  My stepson, Kevin, Nancy, and I traveled to Staunton, Va. the first night (2/27/99) then to Gainesville the next.  We met a friend of Kevin's in Gainesville who runs the Ruby Tuesday's there.  We ate at a great restaurant called Poor Richard's.  We then proceeded to Amicalola Falls State Park but not without great difficulty.  As we were getting closer to the park the fog was dangerously dense. We never thought we would get there and almost had to sleep in the car on the side of the road.  

We ate at the lodge restaurant the next morning, and through our waitress

At left, Hawk Mountain Shelter, where we spent the first night on the trail.
By Mike Calabrese

met another through hiker named Robocop.  He told us we were an answer to his prayers and we took him with us to the .9 mile mark. We were to hike south to the Springer Mountain Summit, take pictures, then start north to the 7.9 mile mark and Hawk Mountain Shelter.  The hike had begun!

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