Boy, are we glad we camped DOWN in a gully–all the hilltops were in cloud this morning!  And sure enough, 5 minutes of walking had us at “The Oasis”, complete with all its usual accoutrements of skeletons, pink flamingo, “Class of 2010” banner, and coolers with cold sodas.  Too cold for a soda today!  Brrrr!   One guy was actually camped IN the cache, and several others nearby. 

There was no sun to provide a warm place for breakfast, so we walked fast till we were well warmed up, then stopped to gobble down granola before hurrying on, enjoying the wildflowers by the trail and the valley views as we hiked along.  When we reached the road, we ALMOST decided to just hike on, but the Andersons (who provide “The Oasis”) had put up a sign about “Come on down to our place 24/7–all the pancakes and taco salad you can eat.”  That did it.  “Hmmm, we need to let the Sierras melt some more!” we said.

And so we ended up in a fantastic time warp zone called Casa de Luna.  The Andersons (Terri & Joe) call it “Hippy Daycare”.  We felt like we were back in the 1960’s in a “hippie house” (we really did live in a Christian “hippie house” for awhile) and we found a perfect campsite in the “Magical Manzanita Forest” out back.  We spent the whole rest of the day lounging around wherever we could find a sunpatch, eating, and talking to other hikers.  Lunch was provided by “Visa”, whose wife died while on a PCT training hike last year.  Now Visa does everything he can to help hikers, and he BBQ’ed us all a great meal.  Meanwhile, there is a bedsheet hanging on the garage door, which all the hikers “sign” with drawings, etc.  I drew a picture of us two “Petaluma Chickens” hiking the PCT.  (Our hometown of Petaluma, CA, was once called “The Egg Capital of the World”).

News from the Sierras is still not good. MORE snow is falling up there, and it is cold even here at Casa de Luna.  After lunch, Bill and I were sitting together trying to get warm, when Terri Anderson came along and put a blanket over us!  She likes to mother all the hikers!  All of us agreed that snow or no snow, we are determined to push on through the Sierras. 

Tonight, sure enough, we had the famous taco salad for dinner, followed by hilarious “trail tales” from Joe & Terri, especially the one about how they started hosting hikers.  It all began with the Joy of Cooking recipe for vegetable soup……and I won’t tell you any of the rest of it, because you HAVE to come to Casa de Luna and hear Joe and Terri’s version.  We all laughed till our sides hurt!   I have not laughed so much in a long time!

We had not planned to even stop here at Casa de Luna, and now, we are SO GLAD we did!  There is no time limit on how long you can stay, and it is much more relaxing than Hiker Heaven.  And we were glad to hear Joe Anderson reminding the hikers that there really is a “Higher Power” and things don’t just happen by accident/luck.  No kidding, Joe!  We finally wandered off to our spot in the Magical Manzanita Forest and went to bed.  What a fun day!

Walk to Lórien: West of River Bruinen