Miles hiked: 3.4
Mile marker: 566.5
Savannah slid into me while we were sleeping. I slid into Rafiki while we were sleeping.
Slopes are a bad idea.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have much of a choice.
It’s light outside before my alarm goes off, which is set for 5:30. I roll around and around, but sleep does not come over me.
We’re up now, finding little dead spiders on our sleeping mats. Huh. I wonder how they died.
I pack quickly and put a breakfast essential in my water bottle. It’s vanilla and I don’t have any coffee or hot chocolate, so we’ll see how this tastes.
It tastes like canned milk.
The four of us start hiking.
Aside from a few bits of uphill, we go downhill. We cross a bridge as we wind around the same sandy path and scrubby slopes that we’ve been on for the past couple of days. I plug in the music — I’m not sure I should listen to music so much — and enjoy that until I catch the group at the road.
Oh man! I forgot to start my watch! I start it at the road, and we do a mile and a half road walk along the side of a road right next to the highway.
It’s already warm outside. I’m glad I decided not to wear my fleece as we began this morning. I had the thought that it may be cool since we were going downhill.
It’s 7:30 as we walk up to a glass-covered gravel parking lot.
“He’s in a blue dodge ram 4×4,” I announce to the group. We sit down on our mats, and not five minutes later does a blue truck show up.
“That’s probably him,” I say. I turn to Rafiki. “Is that a dodge something 4×4?” I ask.
He nods. “See that sticker on the window? He’s got a Cummins.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about.
It’s good to have people who know trucks.
“Katy?” our driver says.
“Yeah! Hey Rick!”
We hop up and Rick, a retired gentleman, presents us with donuts! An entire dozen variety of yeast donuts! Wow, I am so glad that I switched drivers yesterday.
I had another lady lined up to drive us, but we were supposed to have six people with us at the time.
Then Socks hitched in early.
That left five, so it was still good to have the lady take us (we had too many people for our car and she would have to do two trips to get us to town). I contacted Rick, who had more room in his truck. We ended up switching to Rick for this reason. Trying to communicate with people when I have spotty service is a bit stressful for me.
Then Bumper hitched in.
So I didn’t need to switch rides at all.
But now we have donuts and life is better!
Rick, a retired guy from California, gives us a little tour as we ride. We get dropped off at a breakfast spot near Walmart.
I get eggs Benedict and home fries.
“Want to try it?” I ask Dad.
“It looks a little velveeta-y,” he says.
He’s not wrong.
We hang out in the corner booth of Henry’s Cafe for a while. Our bags are tucked away next to us, and my legs sticking to the seats by the time it’s time for us to go.
A four lane road separates us from Big 5, which may have some socks for me. Dad suggested that I get new socks. My endless blisters may be a result of my socks. I want to try Dad’s old sock method: a pair of toe liners under a regular pair of socks.
Big 5 has nothing. I walk through the tightly packed clusters of baseball pants and trucker hats. Cool outfits! I want that! A month of trail clothes makes me appreciate real clothes.
We J-walk the road, running across the flat and hard pavement with difficulty. Rafiki hangs back because he got to the road late, but the oncoming car patiently waits for him.
The sun is shining brightly as we walk to Walmart. A lady in her van stops us.
“Are you hiking the PCT?” she asks.
“Yes!” I say. The rest of my group has gone ahead.
“My name is Fran, and I’m on the Tehachapi trail angel list. I’ll be here until 11:30 if you want a ride.”
I flag Dad over. “Fran, here, can give us a ride later.”
“Oh cool!” Dad says.
We turn the corner and walk through the line of shopping carts. This Walmart looks like any other I’ve been in.
I zip through the aisles, throwing things into my cart and analyzing my list. I came into town with way too much food: 10 snack bars, 4 tuna packets, cheezits I’ve been holding onto for two weeks, two bagels… how did this happen?
Walmart is full of goodies. Propel electrolyte packs, chomp bars, snickers bars… almost everything I need!
I call Fran, and am happy to find that she’s still waiting for us. I find Dad outside emptying the individually packed foods into his bag and trashing the boxes. With so many people, we can end up with a lot of cardboard in a hotel room.
As I toss my cardboard, I call everyone and let them know our ride has an 11:30 cutoff.
Dad and I wait in the car with Fran as the others rush to get in. Unfortunately, Bumper didn’t make the cut. We carry his food bag, but there is no space in the car.
As we drive away, Fran gives us a rundown of where everything is and what restaurant tastes good. I know I can trust her when she says, “Don’t eat here, it’s overpriced and tastes like shit.”
We pass Bumper on the street as he’s walking the mile back to the hotel. He glares at us dramatically as we wave hello to him. “Sorry Bumper!”
Fran blows kisses to him. Poor Bumper.
We also pass Lucie on the street and wave excitedly at her.
“Lucie!” we shout. “Hey Lucie!”
It’s so great to see her!
Fran gives us a tour of the area then drops us off at our hotel. We run into a bunch of people we haven’t seen in a while, including Shepherd and Richy. We chat for a bit, then I head inside and sit on the couch. I text Dad to come inside, but I don’t have much service. I’m sitting on an ugly 2000s squashy couch in the corner of the lobby.
A few moments later, I step outside and tell Dad and Rafiki to come inside.
“Can we wait inside?” Dad asks.
I shrug. “I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to invite everyone in earlier though because some people are very loud and I didn’t want to get kicked out for being noisy.”
We sit inside. It’s really hard to focus when a guest starts arguing with the young desk agent with shaggy black hair.
“She booked the hotel for hikers! She asked for the hiker discount!” The guest has someone on the phone who had obviously made the reservation.
“She didn’t,” the young desk agent says. “I spoke to her on the phone.”
“This place is meant for hikers!” The guest argues. “You’re going to lose another night of business if you don’t give us the discount!”
“I’m okay with that,” the agent says.
They go back and forth a few minutes. The guest finally walks away, swearing at the desk agent.
“Sorry about that,” the agent says to the next hiker guest.
“Don’t apologize for me!” the guest says.
A few moments later and another employee steps behind the desk. She asks the guest to spell his name, and proceeds to ask him another five times because she’s not paying attention.
The hiker is very patient with her.
There are no restrooms available to us, so we go to a coffee shop for a coffee. I spend an obscene amount of money on a coffee, which I make sure to say, “I’m from North Carolina and like my coffee very, very sweet!”
A brown sugar latte. Yum.
We then go back to the motel and soon are able to get into our room! I turn to grab my things: my backpack, paper bag of groceries that is ripping down the side, and the group donuts I’ve been carting around all day.
I turn around, and Dad and Rafiki are gone! They ditched me!
I follow Lucie to her room. Savannah and I planned on sharing a bed, anyway.
I immediately jump in the shower. Muddy water pools off my feet as I scrub my legs vigorously.
Meanwhile, Dad is calling me, texting me, and reaching out to me in the group chat.
Whoops. Missed that one.
He thought I saw where he was going. Rafiki texted me the room number, but I didn’t have much service and couldn’t see it anyway because my hands are full.
I eat some fruit and rest for a bit. I was going to stretch my legs, but there are three of us lounging on the bed and no room for stretching. I go into Dad’s room a few doors over. He’s not there, so I crawl under the covers of his bed to blog. It’s so cold in here!
Soon we go to Petra’s for dinner, a Mediterranean restaurant. There is live music playing by The Gallow Twins. It’s folky and appropriate for camp.
Back at the hotel, we get into the hot tub. It’s not hot, but it will do!
I feel euphoric as the jet shoots water into my back. We all laugh as we float around and sink our shoulders under the water. There are two preteens in the hot tub with us who keep looking at us and giggling as they whisper to each other. It gets darker outside and the water finally warms up. It’s getting hot!
I can’t wait to get back in tomorrow.
Soon, we’re in bed. I have so much to do tomorrow! At least I have the hot tub to look forward to.
The Wonderland Journal 
Leave a comment