It’s a very cold, windy, rainy day here in Petaluma (again!), but our packs are loaded, and we are ready to roll!  Bill and I weighed our packs and fannypacks to calculate our “base weight” (no food, water, or other consumables), and found we are at 12 pounds each.   Bill sighed a bit–his base weight when he hikes the John Muir Trail every year in June is only 8 pounds.   But doing the PCT for 4 months or so is WAY different from one week on the JMT.   We will also be carrying enough trail food to get us from Campo all the way to Warner Springs, since we are not resupplying at Mt. Laguna.  My base weight will go up a bit when we reach Warner Springs, since I am adding on an ice axe for the trail above Idylwild, plus the Fuller Ridge.  I have BAAAAAD memories of the icy snow there in 2005.   Bill is not worried about it.   Hope he’s right!

I also managed to dodge between rainshowers and  finish up all the lastminute “garden stuff” (like making sure the automatic sprinklers actually WORK, after being off all winter, and putting props under the fruit trees in anticipation of the summer day when the branches will be heavy with fruit and need some support).  Once he was done with his pack,  Bill spent the morning finessing our resupply boxes so that each one is just the right size.   We kept a wary eye on weather reports–looks like we will be back in sunshine soon.

This afternoon, I go over to set up and decorate everything for Awana Awards Night tonight.  It is really exciting for the kids to get the beautiful ribbons and trophies they have earned by memorizing and studying the Bible.   I personally HATE long, boring, dragged out awards ceremonies where there are too many speeches, too many groups of kids being dragged up front to sing some dumb song  or recite something.   The parents may think it’s cute, but for the kids, it’s torture, and for their little preschool siblings, it’s over-the-top hard to sit so long.   I guess I still have a lot of “kid” in me, so I don’t want to make kids do something they hate.   The result is our ceremony is short, sweet, and to the point.   Then we have an Ice Cream Sundae Feast!   Only this year,  Bill and I will miss the Feast, because we will be on the road, headed for San Diego!

Here’s what to expect from us in the next few days:

We will be at ADZPCTKO on Sat. and Sunday (April 24-25).

Our first set of journal pages gets mailed home from Warner Springs on around April 28.   Our webmaster will put up summaries as soon as possible.  We send more journal pages home from every resupply.

Our first set of PICTURES will not be mailed home until we reach Agua Dulce (around May 20).   So hang in there–we WILL have pictures!   Our webmaster is really good at putting in pictures, unlike me.

Yesterday I mentioned that I’d lost my “master list” of what went where in my pack.  I hunted for it everywhere, and finally had to give up and just turn the problem over to God for Him to take care of.   This morning, I was tidying up an important file of Awana papers, and there it was!   My list!   The Awana papers had been on my desk, along with the pack list, and when I scooped up the Awana paperwork, I guess I scooped the list up, too.   I was most fervently grateful to find it!  And wasted no time in thanking God for helping me out!   I could have managed without it, and been OK (in fact, I was OK all morning putting stuff in my pack and just saying, “Well, hope I’ve got it all!” and not freaking out at all).    But I am grateful I no longer have to think, “Where is Miss Marple when I need her?”

Now all I have to think about is…the fun at ADZPCTKO–the icy snow in the San Jacintos–the beauty of the trail–the hope of making it across Fuller Ridge–and lots more!   Stay tuned, and happy trails to YOU!