Saturday, June 12 Don’t tear your hair out!
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
For two thruhikers who wish they were back hiking the PCT, waiting for the snow to melt down is like watching paint dry. But White Beard Bill has found a solution. Instead of tearing his hair out and being frustrated, he has instead started tearing out WINDOWS!
Since we both feel fine now and the only thing that’s keeping us from heading back to Tehachapi is the amount of snow in the Sierras, Bill decided to tear out and replace a couple of windows on our house. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, our winter storms and winds come from the south, and of course in summer, the south side of the house takes a huge beating from the hot sun, so he is doing the windows on that side.
When he tried phoning around to get a good price on the windows, he discovered to his amusement that all the window companies are set up to sell you window PLUS installation. When he tried to make them understand that he just wanted the window and would install it himself, he got a lot of “Huh?” and the salespeople had no idea how much it would be just for the window. In the end he gave up on the window companies and went himself to Home Depot.
So if nothing else, we will get a couple of new windows out of this enforced time off the trail!
Hi Monty ~ Remember me? We worked together in front of Saint Columba’s prior to Palm Sunday. I’ve been following your journey. I have a question for you.
Re: the white hazy glare in many pictures, (not all) at the horizon. And specifically May 5 group, (4th row down, left corner)…and May 17 group, (4th row down, center)…and May 18, (picture by realty sign)…I have suspicions…Did you see this 5 years ago? It would be good if you would document the sky, in comparison to before, at this time…
Also are you sure everyone had giardia? Even guy who had filter?
The hazy glare problem is probably due to cheap camera. We were having problems with it starting at Campo. finally gave up, and sent it back to the manufacturer, who supposedly has fixed it. We will see! In the meantime, we are using our other camera. One of the problems with taking pics on the trail is the need to keep moving, keep moving! I do my best to get a decent shot, but it doesn’t always happen.
As to what kind of “water bug” we picked up, well, we don’t know what exactly it was. We just call it “giardia” as a general term. We were never what you’d call deathly ill, just nauseous and tired. And lots of people who diligently filtered and treated their water got sick, too. I will carry some chemical water treatment with me when we get back to the PCT, but don’t want to use it very much. 🙁