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Monday–March 8, 2021
Trail Day–017
Trail Mile–2.8/192.0
Location–Historic Hearn Inn, Cave Spring, Georgia
A cold night last, a hard freeze, but I slept warm all wrapped up in my Zpacks 30-degree quilt, inside my 
Hexamid Solo tent, on my Neoair mattress. I’m out and moving toward Cave Spring a little after seven–with my hands in the pockets of my Mountain Hardwear down vest. The fields along are white. Frost covers pretty much everything.
We’re soon in Cave Spring where I’ll take a nero (almost a zero-mile day).
At the old restored Hearn Inn where I’ll be staying the next two nights (through
the generosity of yet-to-be-named friends) I’m welcomed by Billy Wayne Abernathy, City of Cave Spring. On the steps of the historic old inn (now pretty much a hiker 
hostel) Billy presents me with a decorative Cave Spring lapel pin, a Pinhoti Trail turkey foot pendant created by John Johnston, a local artisan, plus A Brief History of Early Cave Spring, Georgia by author Victoria Stanz Abernathy, Billy’s wife.
Two interviews have been scheduled today. First one is with Doug Walker, a reporter with Rome News Tribune. Then after lunch at Southern Flavor Cafe with Maggie, Jess, Mancil and Dennis, Maggie arranges a talk with Jess Lingle, Southern Exposure Films–a fellowship actively raising awareness and appreciation for Alabama’s environment and natural beauty.
This has been a delightful day in Cave Spring, a grand time with both old and new friends! It’s the people along the way folks–indeed, it’s the people!
One state down now. Fourteen more to go to reach Mount Katahdin in Maine.
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
(Joseph Parry)
