Why are you out here again?

On Sunday Mar. 20 I left the Plumorchard Gap Shelter in much cooler temperatures.  At 8:30 I crossed the Georgia/North Carolina border and celebrated with a whoop and a small tear of joy.  One state down and only thirteen more to go.  As a welcome to NC the climb out of Bly Gap near the border was a real kicker.  I even had to stop a few times to catch my breath.  The rest of the day was surprisingly easy with only a few ups and downs, despite the fact that I was now well above 4000' elevation all the time.  At 2:30 I reached the Carter Gap Shelter, a distance of 20 miles from Plumorchard, and decided to call it quits for the day.  Already in the shelter were Enzed, a woman from New Zealand, and her hiking friend Forest Gimp.  They had just taken a zero day in the shelter and were spending the time watching movies on his iPod.  Also in the shelter was Gipc Girl (you read that right) from Australia.  She tried to thru-hike the AT last year but broke her leg at Unicoi Gap and spent 6 weeks in a motel in Franklin, NC while it healed.  She then re-commenced the hike but could only get to Mt. Washington in NH before here visa expired.  So, she came back here again this year to re-do the whole hike again.  She is a 62 year old interior designer who just loves to be outdoors hiking.  The final two occupants of the shelter were a woman who thru-hiked the trail last year and her hiking partner.
At one point Gipc Girl asked last year's thru-hiker : "When did you decide to hike the AT again this year?"
"Well," she said , "I went home to New Mexico last fall after summiting Katahdin on Oct. 3.  I was only home a few weeks when my daughter called and asked if I could come help her look after my new granddaughter.  So, I went and found I was spending all my time looking after the granddaughter while my daughter was out working and socializing.  It felt like I was married again.  I did all the cooking and cleaning and child care but wasn't getting anything in return.  She wouldn't even let me drive her car.  So, after a month of that I just said I was leaving.  At that point I decided to hike the AT again this year.  It seemed the only way to get away from them.  When I was married I was a truck driver for 6 years as well.  That and the AT just seem to satisfy a craving I have to be on the move."