Day 44: Zero day in Tehachapi

A zero day in town, which means a lot of eating, and a lot of chores. In particular, the rundown of the day:

-- Wake, get complimentary breakfast, which in these COVID times is a bag breakfast of an orange, a muffin sandwich, and a couple bars. Ah well, the orange was good!

-- Check-out of current room, store gear in Runts' room for now.

-- Walk to Albertsons with Runts, get resupply.

-- Drop by ice cream shop next door, eat ice cream.

-- Walk to Big 5, get some gear adjustments.

-- Walk back to hotel with Runts. She heads to her room to nap, I sit in the lobby working on blog while waiting for new room.

-- Check-in to new room. Get it at 2:30pm: half an hour early! Go to room, work a bit more on the blog, fall asleep. Nap.

-- Wake, get stuff from Runts' room. Start washing stuff: food kit, water kit, delicates (buff and hat and gaiters), wipe down bags and gear.

-- Walk to Burger Spot with Runts, get dinner.

-- Walk back to hotel. Drop by ATM on way back to pick up some cash. Back at hotel, continue cleaning. Also organize resupply into food bag.

-- In the evening, Dylan drops by, chat as continue sorting.

And that's about it! Now that I write it down, it doesn't look that busy--that nap in the middle of the day certainly suggests otherwise. But it certainly felt busy. I think it's because there's just a lot of little tasks to keep track of: the need to wash everything, charge everything, resupply everything, of course. But also the need to siphon fuel to refill fuel canister, to check out some gear changes (added solar panel, looking for a dry bag for the tent which I now strap to the top of my bag), update various spreadsheets (a cost spreadsheet, the Plan sheet), then remember to shave and shower and cut back my nails (all 10). And those are just the general things, before I get into Tehachapi-specific things, like getting cash at the ATM, loading the next map on Guthooks (the Sierras!), updating Guthooks.

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Some notes:

-- The plan from here is to push all the way to Kennedy Meadows--the gateway to the Sierras. That's 140+ miles; we're planning to make it in 8 days. It's possible to split it up at Walker Pass, and go into Ridgecrest (you can also go into Lake Isabella, but Ridgecrest is a bigger town), in which case it reduces to 6 days + 2 days. But we're going to try and push for all 8. And if something goes wrong, we can always bail out at Ridgecrest.

-- At the Albertsons, I saw the self-checkout with its much shorter lines and hesitated. Went to the clerk manning those stations and started with, so I don't have an Albertsons card. Don't worry, you'll get the sales anyway, she replied, cutting me off, the card is just for fuel points. Ah ok, so I went through the self-checkout. About halfway through scanning tuna packets, she said right off the bat: how's the hike going so far? Pretty good, I said, pretty good. I would finish, get ice cream, then come back because I forgot to pick up a razor. Back in self checkout and she saw me. That's going to feel good, she said. Yes, yes it will, I agreed. You see, that's the small town feel, even in a busy major  supermarket (and in a town where the Walmart across the way is the size of a city block, with grocery and home and pharmacy and garden sections), and that's the sort of interaction that would keep me coming back to the Albertsons (versus, say, said Walmart).

-- Dylan had a bunch of stories since last we spoke, which was probably back in Idyllwild? Over this last section in the desert, he's been night-hiking a lot and he recommends it. You see a lot more animals that way, he said, and promptly listed a bunch of animals that you don't necessarily want to see: brown recluse spiders (he went down an Internet rabbit-hole of looking at brown recluse bites--doesn't recommend it), a bobcat, some animal with bulbous eyes in the dark that looked like it could stand up on its hind legs. Hmm, this isn't necessarily the most convincing aspect of night-hiking! But he finds it pretty awesome. He also has been cowboy camping every night; is considering sending his tent ahead to Kennedy Meadows. Looking ahead, he and Uno will probably be arriving at Kennedy Meadows about the same time as Runts and I, so I should see him again. He's thinking this next week will be tough, though: hot, with lots of climbs and lots more desert. And though he's been really amazed by the desert--he's been much more impressed than he expected--still, he's definitely looking forward to the non-desert Sierras!

-- A couple of other things. As hikers, Dylan and I talked about feet and foot pain, and I mentioned some new ones in my left, then briefly commented that it's almost as if my left foot would be better served by a different shoe size. I think that's true for a lot of people, Dylan said, that their feet are different sizes. And it makes no sense to me, he continued, that in this day when you can buy anything, you can't buy a single shoe from, say, the manufacturer, but you have to buy pairs. And now that I think on it, yeah, he's right! 

-- Oh, and another story! So I've been repeating Rooster's "crazy donkey theory" on trail because it's just too good (and, yes, I always make sure to attribute it to him when I do so: my academic training bearing fruit, as it were), and I think I previously quoted it but abridged here. So here it is in full: Rooster theorizes that when they designed the PCT, they got a crazy donkey and let it loose in the hills. And wherever the donkey went, that was the trail. And wherever the donkey stopped, that was a campsite. And wherever the donkey drank, that was a water source. And hence was born the PCT!