Waking up at 5:00 am has become such a habit that even in the motel, we were both wide awake.  That’s OK, because it gave us time to read the Bible for a good while until the “free breakfast” room was open, and at that point, we had fun eating everything in sight! Chris and Bethany, two of the “gang” came in, too, so we had a good time sharing trail tales.

After that, it was time to repack the packs, trek to the post office, then Bill went to the hardware store to get a part for his pack (one of his web-tightening turnbuckles was broken), while I went to find the bus stop for our trip to Bakersfield, where we’ll pick up a car to drive to Oregon.  Finding it was not easy–nobody seemed to know–but finally one older lady gave me good directions.  Then it turned out that the next bus to Bakersfield wasn’t for another 3 hours! 

Catching some zzzzz's in the shade by KMart

 Oh well, now we had time to eat some more, so we had lunch, then waited in the shade by KMart, since it was a very hot day, with no wind.  The only things moving were the cars in the street and the trains going by.  The windmills across the tracks were sitting still. 

  But the trains were fun–Tehachapi is an historic railroad town.  The engineering challenge of getting the railroad over Tehachapi Pass was huge, and succeeded with some really creative thinking.  

Finally the bus came, and it was only $2 for a 20 mile ride!  Wow! We pay a lot more than that for Golden Gate Transit buses back home!  The people on the bus were friendly, and fun to talk to.  One man reminisced about life in Tehachapi in the 1950’s, and I ended up talking to a fascinating lady who is a dance teacher, Pilates instructor, photographer, and homeschooling mom.  She said she got into Pilates (a special exercise program) when she had a Pilates instructor come to the dance school to teach a class.  In a very short time, the students’ flexiblity and “core strength” had improved so dramatically that she decided to try it for herself and ended up as a certified instructor.  She has four grown and almost-grown kids, all homeschooled and doing great.

In Bakersfield, we hopped off the bus and only had to go 4 blocks to Hertz for our rental car.  They didn’t have the small car we’d reserved, so we ended up with one that felt to us like driving a moose.  It took some getting used to!  And so we “hit the road” for Oregon!  It was a very exciting feeling, and I had a lot of inner questions about, “What will it be like in Oregon?  Will there be hordes of mosquitoes?  Will there be snow?”  But I figured, “Just enjoy the moment!  We are FIRST headed for Andersen’s!” 

Bill is glad to be at Andersen's!

 What is Andersen’s and what’s the big deal?  Well, Andersen’s makes split pea soup, and besides selling soup, they also have a restaurant, which is located along Interstate 5.  I was in college in Santa Barbara until just before Bill and I were married, and when he came to drive me home for our wedding, we stopped at Andersen’s restaurant (then on  Interstate 101) for some of the famous split pea soup! 

It's been a great almost-37 years!

 So Andersen’s has a lot of “sentimental value” to us.  It’s been almost 37 years ago since we were married, and Andersen’s is still a great place.    The soup turned out to be as good as ever, and we enjoyed a great Danish dinner before driving on till well past dark and camping at Caswell State Park, near Manteca, CA.–another one of our “favorite spots”!  We and our daughters spent many happy days there camping, rafting on the Stanislaus River, and just having fun!  The mosquitoes were out in droves though–we had to rig the net tent!   It was a pleasant, but weird feeling to be at Caswell again, knowing that REALLY we were just headed back for the PCT, as fast as we could get there!

Sunday, June 12     Miles today: 3.3             Total so far: 558.3 miles       So. CA section E

The wind was blowing fiercely when we got up–absolutely roaring in the treetops overhead–and we were eager to get to Tehachapi, so we planned to really “make tracks” for the last 3 miles. The wind, however, had other ideas.  Once we were out of forest cover, we were being whammed and slammed so hard by the gusts that there were times I could barely make headway.  One really big gust knocked me three feet off the trail, even with 2 trek poles to help keep me on track.  But I was VERY glad that the wind was blowing us into the UPHILL side of the trail, since the downhill side was very steep, and it was a loooong way to the bottom.  Having wind blowing us in the downhill direction would have been truly terrifying, but instead, it gave us a sort of fun “wild, wild ride”. 

I have to admit, though, I did do some praying when the PCT passed close by a Joshua tree–I did not want to be blown onto their sharp spines!  Above us were the huge windmills of the giant Tehachapi wind farm, whirling and twirling.  They looked very well-maintained, and were definitely impressive!  I really like wind farms–they are like sci-fi come to life, and in their own way, are rather “artsy”. 

We finally made it down into the valley, protected from the wind, and found “the gang” at the trail camp there, just starting to get up.  There was a trail register–the entry just before ours was one of the thru-hiker gals we gave water to yesterday.  She had pushed straight to the camp last night, arriving after dark by headlamp, and she finished her entry with, “I am tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired!”  We saw her still in her sleeping bag, so I believe it!  We wrote, “Wheeeee!  That was one WILD ride getting down here this morning!”   There was plenty of water at the camp, so we ate our granola with the sleepy, touselheaded other hikers, and headed for the road, to hitch-hike in to Tehachapi. 

We tried to spiff ourselves a bit before sticking our thumbs out, but the cars just passed us by.  Then along came a big van with a family from Lancaster who were on their way to church.  They offered us a ride, and encouraged us to first go to church with them.  I looked at them all so clean and dressed up, and at us, so dirty and smelly.   I REALLY, really wanted to go to church–it’s been over a month for us of no chance to get with other Christians for worship or Bible study or anything–and I said tentatively, “We’d love to go with you, but we have been on the trail a long time and we’re pretty grubby and smelly.”  The family just grinned, and the mom said, “No problem!”  And so we found ourselves riding up a beautiful green canyon with lovely trees until we reached a hillside monastery for the Norbertine order.  The building and grounds reminded me somewhat of St. Columba’s Retreat House in Marin County, back home.  I had never heard of the Norbertines, but they certainly chose a beautiful location!

The chapel had a bathroom where Bill and I quickly washed up as best we could and changed into our “town” shirts.  I kept my hat on, since I noticed that the ladies in the chapel all had head coverings. We quietly slipped in, very happy to be there!  The service turned out to be a lovely mass, sung in Latin, with the Norbertine sisters doing Gregorian chant in such pure and reverent tones as I have never heard before.  And the homily was excellent–it was on the heresy of Marcion, who was the first to promote the silly idea that God in the Old Testament is not the same as God in the New Testament.  Marcion said that the Old Testament God was “judgemental and vindictive”, while the New Testament God was “loving and merciful”, therefore, “they must be two different gods.”  Anyone who knows anything about the Bible knows that this is nonsense!  God is just as loving in the Old Testament as in the New, and He is equally “judgemental” in both.   It was the bringing together of His incredible love AND His righteous judgement that put Jesus on the cross to bear the judgement we deserve so we can be forgiven.

After church, we received a very warm welcome from everyone, including the priest, Father Francis, who rode his bike 187 miles (often against a headwind!) to be there this morning!  He said he’s often seen the thru-hikers trying to hitch rides into town from the trailhead, and often stops to talk to them.  “Wish I could give them a ride,” he said.  “but that’s kind of hard when I’m on a bike!”  The church families had almost a polite “argument” over who got to take us home with them for breakfast (Of course, being Catholic, it’s no breakfast before mass).  In the end, a family from Tehachapi “won”, because we were headed for Tehachapi, AND, as the dad said, “We’ve got 10 kids–two more mouths to feed is not a problem!”

So that’s how we ended up eating a splendid breakfast with a splendid family!  It was a great time of fellowship with these sweet people, who, as we discovered, are caught in the middle of an orthodox vs. modernist/revisionist division in the Catholic church.  They are orthodox, as are the Norbertines, but many other Catholics are not.  We told them we’re in the same boat, as part of an orthodox, Bible-believing Episcopal church caught in a modernist diocese. Our host family are ALSO (hooray!) homeschoolers, with the same philosophy we had in our homeschool–“Homeschooling is NOT school-at-home!”  It’s totally different.  Like ours, their kids were able to study at their own pace, and work on the things that interested them in depth,  didn’t bother to “do high school”,  and now some of the older ones are already in college. 

This kind “trail angel” family then blessed us with hugs, promises to pray for us, invitations to return, etc., and took us to the Best Western in Tehachapi, where we are now clean, resting, and wellfed.  We are grateful to God for His people everywhere–and I have a feeling we may be on the Norbertine sisters’ prayer list!  And last but not least (I HAD to put this in!) I am having a blast with trainwatching!  The railroad runs past right across the street from our motel!   Tomorrow we’ll be headed for Oregon!