June 6, Mon.–Zero day

Monday, June 6th, 2005

A bunch of the hikers organized a huge breakfast this morning of bacon, eggs, homefries, pancakes and fruit salad, washed down with “cowboy coffee” made in a big pot, since the coffee machine wouldn’t work.  Yum!  We all ate like pigs.  The dogs, of course, were interested in everything we did, and after breakfast, “Buddy” followed Bill and I into the RV and made himself at home! 

Donna's flowers--with tents for thruhikers in background

Donna's flowers--with tents for thruhikers in background

A group of us got organized to ride “Big Red” into town, and while people were getting themselves together, I walked around the garden, enjoying Donna Saufley’s flowers. 

"Big Red" ready to roll

"Big Red" ready to roll

 Then we all crowded into the van, with Panda at the wheel and Bethany with the map, acting as navigator.  Most of the rest of the day, we spent locating items we needed.  Bill got new shoes, I got trek poles (TWO of them, this time), we got another pair of patella straps so we could both have two.  Bill got his watch fixed at a jewelers (now that was a WEIRD moment!  We were in a very upscale mall, in our now-clean hiking clothes, and Bill’s beard is, let’s say, grown out some, and we walked into this very fancy jewelers to get a new watch battery and have it installed.  We got some VERY strange looks!). 

Thruhikers at In 'n Out

Thruhikers at In 'n Out

 Lunch was at In ‘n Out–best hamburgers and fries in the west!  For the first time in my life, I ate a “Double-Double” with fries and a milkshake–and no worries about calories!

In the late afternoon, we were back at Hiker Heaven, where all of us had giant “clean-out-the-refrigerator” salads for dinner.  Bill and I worked on the logistics of our change of plans.  I still felt very sad at not going straight on through the Sierras, but I told myself, “Don’t take it for granted that exactly at the time we were here at Hiker Heaven, that thruhiker came back from the Sierras and warned us all about how bad it was.  If we had gotten here two days earlier, we would have missed him, and who knows what kind of serious trouble we might have ended up in.  This is God’s mercy to us, and I need to respect Him and be grateful.”

The evening entertainment tonight turned out to be a visit from Lawrence the Trail Gorilla (we actually did meet him before, at the highway before the Desert Divide).  He told us many tales of his amazing efforts at improving and maintaining the PCT in Southern California.   He is the one who put up the little sign showing where to turn off for Eagle Rock.  He put up little signs pointing out where poison oak was so that nonCalifornians would know what to look for.  He put up the shower in the tree at Tule Springs….etc.  Wow!

And by the way, all the hikers are getting a good laugh out of a list that Donna Saufley posted.   Here it is:

10 WAYS TO SPOT A FORMER THRU-HIKER:   10) Wears the same clothes every single day .     9) Sleeps on the floor next to the bed. 8) Ignores the toilet–prefers to dig little holes in the backyard.    7) In the kitchen, a string hangs from the ceiling with a tuna can and stick tied on.      6) Puts on gaiters to walk to the mailbox.   5) Uses stairs at work rather than elevator–insists upon taking a snack break upon reaching the top floor.  4) Wooden floors are all pockmarked from pole tips.   3) 40% of household food budget goes to pop tarts and snickers bars.   2) Declares each morning that “this will be another zero day.”   1) Says things like, “Hey Mom/Honey, can you slack me to the mail?”

Well, number 2 applies to us!  We have decided to take one more zero day here to let Bill’s feet heal as much as possible!  Donna Saufley has a guestbook, and everybody writes in it.  Bill wrote the “lyrics” to a song he made up while we were on the trail and heading for Agua Dulce.  The tune is “Oh, I Come from Alabama With My Banjo on My Knee”.   It goes something like this: “We are marching to the Saufley’s, to the Saufley’s we will go,  Our feet, they are a’hurtin’, but our pace we will not slow.   We are going to the Saufley’s now, for food ‘n drink ‘n rest,   We are going to the Saufley’s,  ’cause, the Saufley’s are the best!”  (Chorus):   AGUA DULCE!  The hikers’ heaven on earth!  If you’ve got a list of trail angels, the Saufley’s rank is FIRST!”

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