The moment has arrived

I knew the holiday had started when our taxi driver sang along with an Elvis CD all the way to the airport. It was the perfect ballad and the taxi driver had a great voice!

The 24 hours travelling time worked - no delays, no lost luggage. I had been nervous about our visas - but as it turned out the Homeland Security Officer was very friendly and gave us the 6 months we needed rather than the 180 days (which would have meant we were 3 days short). So we are legally in the country until the 29th September, which is the date of our Qantas flight back to Melbourne.

We staggered out of the Atlanta Terminal and stood like lost souls on the footpath waiting for Mike and Theresa to find us - they had been circling for sometime doing the loop along with another 100 cars - in minutes they found us, loaded us and we were on our way.

Our first US experience - dinner at a BarBQue - a restaurant where the meat is cooked on spits and served -we met Mike and Theresa's son Mike, his wife Emily, and son Mike. So we had Michael I, Michael II, and Michael III at the dinner table. The main impressions - the fantastic service from the waitress, and the cheap price of the food - $10 for a main course.

Mike and Theresa live about 1 hr from Atlanta in a western red cedar ranchstyle house with a lakeside frontage to Lake Lanier - a man-made lake dammed in the 1950s with many steep flooded valleys and houses built with lakeside views along all the ridges. It is a large block covered in trees which currently have no leaves. So in the morning we sat on the verandah and watched an amazing wildlife display -  the squirrels run up and down 30 metre trunks, saw the hawk catch his morning meal, and loads of yellow finches, woodpeckers, bluejays and a cardinal bird which is bright red, right up next to the house feeding from the bird feeders. Once the trees get their leaves, the lake will be hidden and the birds will be harder to see.

The morning was spent in a phone shop. We have had to buy a new phone. So many phones, so many plans, so many choices. It is red, with a real keyboard, and we got an extra battery. I am hoping to Twitter remotely. Our network is Verizon, which has the best coverage in the remote areas, and the appalachian trail forums recommend this company over all the others.

A vist to the Texan Steakhouse for lunch, followed by a trip to Walmart to buy our food for the next seven days. Now we are all set.

If anyone wants to email me directly, I will be using alison.gotts@gmail.com and will check it when I get into towns. Our phone is 770 4905072 if anyone wants to send us a text.

We have packed all our food and tomorrow we start - Mike and Theresa are dropping us off at Amicalolo Falls to begin our journey. They have been real trail angels for us - it has made everything so easy - we are very appreciative and wondering how we can ever repay their generous hospitality. Let's hope they revisit the Daintree.