June 7, Tues.–Zero day

Tuesday, June 7th, 2005

I got up really early this morning and tiptoed into the kitchen of the main trailer to make a really nice breakfast for everybody–bacon, sausage and pancakes with sliced strawberries, butter and maple syrup–all washed down with more “cowboy coffee.”  The 15 or so hungry thru-hikers were very grateful, especially the ones who just came in late last night.    (You may ask, “Where did you get all that food you cooked?”  Well, just out of the fridge and off the shelves–if it’s not labelled with a name, it’s fair game!)

I spent the morning writing journal entries, counting our food, and making a shopping list for the grocery store in town.  Lunch was giant salads again–we are doing our best to obey Donna Saufley and keep that fridge clean!  People keep buying stuff and putting it in for everyone to use–everyone is VERY generous!  Bill meanwhile was keeping his feet up and resting and airing them.  They look MUCH better!  The blisters and raw spots are healing fast.  He had fun talking to the other hikers.

A bunch of us piled into Big Red in the afternoon for the run to the grocery store, and I had fun shopping, including buying stuff to put in the fridge for other hikers to eat.  But I had even more fun talking to the newbie checkout clerk at the store.  He had been noticing PCT hikers walking by on the road, but had no clue what was going on.  Turns out he’d noticed that all the guys have beards, and concluded it must be some kind of Amish pilgrimage!  I had to assure him that we were all sorts of people, from all over  the world, hiking the famous Pacific Crest Trail that runs right by the front door of his grocery store.  And the beards–well, it’s kind of hard to shave when you are backpacking! 

Back at the Saufley’s, Bill concocted a box for mailing home our ice axes and Yaktrax.  The Saufleys have a great system for mailing hiker packages, and soon there was quite a pile of them on the porch!  We are not the only people who are going to save the Sierras for later.  People are planning to “skip up” up to various places along the PCT to the north.  Some are going all the way to Canada, and planning to “sobo” back to Agua Dulce!

Meanwhile, the hikers who weren’t in the middle of “redoing their itinerary” were all engrossed in a movie about the first climb of K-2, and when it was over, the barbeque got fired up, and it was feast time again–cheeseburgers with bacon and all the fixings, hot dogs, and “smokey links” (I never had those before–wow, they were good!).  Hikers also scarfed down bowls of coleslaw and baked beans and to wash it down, there were a lot of softdrinks, beer and wine.  Then, to the complete surprise of one of the hikers, a chocolate cake was produced, and “Happy Birthday” sung.  He didn’t know we knew it was his birthday!  And oh yes, we had ice cream with chocolate sauce, too.  Pig-out city once again.

But we were really happy also because today we’d been able to “eat” the kind of food Jesus ate, that He talked about in John 4:34,  where He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me.”  The “food” Jesus had just been “eating” was to talk to a bad Samaritan woman and help her understand that He was the Savior God had promised to send, and that all the crummy life she’d been leading could be transformed and she could be forgiven.   Well,  while we’ve been here today “taking a zero”, we also had a chance to discuss spiritual things with a number of the other hikers.  The conversations were very interesting, and very diverse, but the one common denominator for all (and I totally understand it, because that’s where I used to “be at”) went like this: “No way do I want God bossing my life.  It’s MY life, and He can just stay OUT.” 

Some of the hikers took the position of living in a very tiny world called, “I’m a good person, and I don’t need God”.  Some were living in la-la land of “Oh, all religions are the same–just pick one and be sincere.”  Other hikers were just basically bored with the “religion” they were brought up with (usually some “empty shell” form of “Christianity”), and were looking for new spiritual “thrills”.    A couple of them yelled at us and told us “Get lost–I hate you people who try to push your religion on me.”  There was one hiker, though, who really listened, and said, “You know, I can see that what you’re saying is true, and the Bible is for real, but honestly, I just don’t want God in my life right now.  Maybe later.”

Talking with all these different people was fun, but sad.  Not one of them actually know Jesus Christ or what He has done for them.   Bill and I went to bed in the RV and spent some time praying for all of them, because tomorrow we hit the trail again. 

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