Mon, Aug. 8    Miles today: 8.3      Total so far: 1,499.3         Still waiting for resupply box

Our alarm went off at 5:00, and it was still dark!  We will have to move it to maybe 5:20 or so–the days are definitely shortening.  But the sunrise view from Mel and Debbie’s house was beautiful, and finally it was light enough to see the valley below.  Amazingly, though the Tehachapi area in general is quite brown, there are a lot of fine fruit and vegetable farms down there.  Artemis the cat joined me in admiring the view also!

We had been trying to be very quiet, since we didn’t know when Mel & Debbie got up, and when we finally noticed that they were up ‘n at it in the kitchen, and went in to say good morning, we found to our astonishment that they were not only making lunches for themselves, but for US, too!  Wow!  We are so blessed!  Our plan for today was to hike the PCT between Hwy 58 and Willow Springs Road, then back to the post office, hopefully to get our box and be able to leave tomorrow.  Mel dropped us off where the PCT hits Hwy. 58, and we were back on trail–what a great feeling!  Switchbacks took us up high where a Boy Scout bench invited us to stop and admire the view.  Bill commented, “Well, no more rain and trees–it’s back to rattlesnakes and horny toads.”  We’d already spotted one little horny toad on the switchbacks, and figured on seeing more!

Then it was on into the wind farms and a view of the Mojave Desert.  I was glad I didn’t have to cross it now–it was a very warm day, even at Tehachapi Pass.  It seemed like no time and we’d reached Willow Springs Road.  That was a quick 8 miles!  But then it was a LONG wait to get a ride back to Tehachapi.  Finally, a guy who lives up in the hills near the PCT gave us a ride, right to the post office!  That saved us some walking–the post office is way outside of downtown.  Alas, still no box, so we waited in Tehachapi till Mel picked us up again on his way home from work.   This was getting frustrating, and we hated to impose on our kind hosts any more than necessary.  Tonight we prayed hard for our box to come tomorrow!

Sun. Aug. 7         Still waiting in Tehachapi

I got up at 6:00 for a shower, Bible reading and eating–and listening to trains!  Tehachapi is a railroad town, and trains go through all the time.  The famous “Tehachapi Loop” is off to the west–wish we could see it, but without a car, that just would not be possible.  It’s a very clever piece of railroad engineering, designed to get the trains up a steep part of the pass, but without having a steep grade on the track itself.

Bill finally got up, too, and I did some mending on his pack, did some writing, then packed up my pack ready to go.  By 10:00 we were out front waiting for our ride to church.  St. Jude’s turned out to be a fairly new building, with a very friendly group of people.  I felt right at home, and really appreciated the music–grand old hymns accompanied by viola, guitar, and some organ.  The regular pastor was away, so they had a “sub” who normally teaches New Testament–only today he was preaching on the OLD Testament–Jonah, chapter 2, which (hurray!) he took as literal, historic truth, with plenty of practical application.

Our hosts, Mel and Debbie, took us home with them after church and offered breakfast.  A second breakfast?  You bet!  Their home is located above 5,000 feet elevation and they have a great view of Tehachapi Pass.  In the afternoon, our daughter called up, all excited about an engagement announcement in church–one of our pastor’s 7 daughters (he also has 3 sons, for a total of 10 kids!) will be marrying a young man she met in England.  Everyone is thrilled!

We spent the afternoon quietly reading and petting Artemis, the cat.  Then Mel and Debbie invited us to a BBQ dinner outside on the beautiful warm evening.  One of the things we’ve noticed since we arrived in Tehachapi is that it gets dark a lot sooner here than it did in Washington State.  We planned to hike the PCT segment between Willow Springs Road and Highway 58 tomorrow morning, then check at the post office for our box.  Mel said he’d drop us off on his way to work, then we figured we could hitch-hike back.