Day 68: Zero day in Bishop

There's a tension in town. On the one hand, towns tend to congregate hikers, and you want to take the time to talk with folks. If you're very focused, it's to talk about the trail and get hints for what's ahead. If you're less focused--like me--it's just to relax and chew the fat with folks you haven't seen in a while. On the other hand, town means chores, with a laundry list of things to do (including, prominently, literal laundry) and not enough time to do them, less if you spend more time "on the one hand".

Ah well, I like the conversation!

It turns out a lot of people had congregated in Bishop, and many who I knew! On the way to the hotel, I passed by Max--oh hey, you made it, come by to the Mexican place and say hi to everybody, he said, and I said, sure, just let me check in first. And then I got a text from Uno saying that Dylan and her were in Bishop and where was I?, and I replied I was in town, and she said, we're at the bowling alley so come on by! So I checked in, and dropped my stuff, and went to the Mexican place and saw Max and Marina and Dennis and a whole group just as they were heading out (so I ordered takeout), and actually got hugs from Max and Marina (I don't come from a hugging culture, so hugs are a Significant thing for me), and then I went to the bowling alley and saw Uno and Dylan and the group they were hanging out with (AC/DC and Outlast, and Mr Brightside and Balloons), and ate away as they finished their frames. And then we went across the street to the Jack in the Box and got more food, and then went back to the hotel--the Eastside Guesthouse where, it turns out, we all were staying--and it turns out Jailbreak and Emily were there too, and it was just a whirlwind of seeing people. And in the end, I ended up talking with Dylan and Jailbreak into the night, while everybody else headed in to sleep, and as is the wont of conversations past midnight in the low illumination of don't-trip lighting, we got to talking of Serious Trail Things. And I talked about how I felt so far behind, how I felt so insufficient out here, like a day-hiker with a backpack, and Dylan said you're being too hard on yourself. And I talked about my new idea, about how push vs enjoy is a false dichotomy, and a way out is to push to enjoy--push the miles because you want to see *all* the things--and Jailbreak seemed to think that at least a bit intriguing.

And the conversations continued the next day, when I hung out with Dylan and Uno until their departure around noon, delaying my chores, but I myself stayed in Bishop, because while I hadn't intended to take a zero in Bishop, I had gotten in too late to do any chores so kind of had to. And then I talked with Mr Brightside and Balloons. And they're both younger guys, Balloons studying finance (essentially) and Mr Brightside having studied packaging engineering (a pretty specialized field; only a few universities even have programs) and having worked for a medical devices company for a few years out of school, but now contemplating a change. And Mr Brightside is well named, because he's always positive, and has an easy manner: we would both plan to leave tomorrow and he would suggest we head out together and then trade contact info and ask, would you like me to send you a wake-up text?--he's the type of guy who you can immediately feel like you're in, you're part of the club, with. And Balloons has that incisive eye that looks right through things and picks up on clues that others miss. He got to the "how old are you" question pretty quickly (they were both surprised when I said 43), he ascertained a college education on me almost immediately and got to the "where did you go to school" question pretty quick after that. But he's also a nice guy, and pretty quickly I was in his club too; he had had an injury so had been in Bishop for a few days, and I often picked his brain as to how to get around town.

Because I needed to get around town: lots of chores! Chores are boring, though, so I'm going to present them here in an apropos fashion: as a list!

1 On gear: I wanted to try new shoes. I noticed around Kennedy Meadows (right before the Sierras, when I could still do big days) that the pads of my feet have started hurting after a lot of miles. So I wanted to look for a shoe with better padding. And I tried the Altras that fit the bill, the new Lone Peaks, the Timps, even the Olympus. And the newest Altras all didn't fit quite right: the store only had the normal Lone Peak 5s rather than the wides and the new normals are too narrow; the Timps slip in the heel; and the Olympus also slips in the heel. So I went to another store, and there talked with a very helpful employee who asked what I was looking for, I explained my situation, and then he listened, thought about it, and recommended some Topos. And I tried them--the Mountain Racers--and they fit pretty good, and they have extra padding, and they don't have a zero drop so I don't need additional insoles like I would with the Altras (the zero drop is in theory the right way to go, but it also aggravates my plantar fascitis). So I bought a pair. And promptly shipped them back home! Because I had gotten a new pair of Altras in my resupply box, and as Lincoln said, don't change horses in the middle of a stream, especially when that stream is the challenging Sierras. So I'll use the new Altras for now--their padding hasn't worn down, my insoles are still relatively new (they're the ones from Kennedy Meadows), and I'm not doing big miles so the soreness won't kick in yet. Then I'll have the Topos mailed to me when the big miles *do* start kicking in, and the extra padding should help. At least that's the plan and I'm sticking to it!

2 And I looked for pants, because my Kuhl convertible cargo pants--which I really like, and for which I have a whole system of what goes in which pocket so I can reach for things without thinking--are falling apart. The pockets are ripping, the pant legs are ripped, and the conversion zipper on one leg keeps falling off at inopportune moments. And I *did* manage to find Kuhl convertible pants, but the store didn't have the right size--evidently I'm too petite now--so I didn't get any. Instead ordered some online at REI, will get them delivered to Terry and mailed to me at Mammoth Lakes, the next big stop. 

3 Which brings up the post office. Ah, the post office! I had a package, so I went to pick it up. But then I also had stuff to mail out, but what I mailed out depended on what I could buy in town--for example, the aforementioned shoes. So I ended up getting back to the Eastside Guesthouse pretty late, and rushing to open my package and construct the new one. And I got it all together, and the post office was closing in 20 minutes, and it was a 15 minute walk. Why don't you take a bike, Balloons suggested--the Eastside Guesthouse provides complimentary bikes that you can ride around town. Only the box I had picked was too bulky, so I'd have to carry it under an arm and steer the bike with only one hand and it'd been too long since I've been on a bike--they say you never forget how to ride a bike but, trust me, I can! So I ended up running to the post office. Only I'm terrible at running, and could only do this idiotic shuffle step runnish thing, hugging the box to my chest, my backpack jostling awkward behind me, for maybe half a block before I'd be out of breath and start walking, huffing and puffing from the exertion and the heat. Go another half block, then repeat. I must have looked ridiculous; I certainly *felt* ridiculous. But I managed to get in about 5 minutes before closing, sweating so badly I couldn't see. The lady at the counter took one look at my box and said, you can't seal the box with duct tape (the only tape they had at Eastside Guesthouse) it can muck up our machines, so reseal it with this tape and she handed me a roll. (Which is generous; my car trunk at home is full of half-used rolls of post office tape that I bought at the counter.) And I did, wiping the sweat from my eyes, and I made it just in time! Everybody has a "racing to the post office story"; I hope this is my first and last and only one!

4 After the post office, all that remained was resupply. So I dropped by a gear shop to buy some specialty bars, then actually went back to Eastside and now drafted a bike to ride to the Grocery Outlet and Vons on the north side of town. And while my last biking experience had been bad, this one turned out ok. Sure the gears switched over slowly, and the brakes were worn down, and the seat was a bit high, but I was able to use both hands this time and rode with at least some confidence. And it's much much faster to bike to the grocery than to walk!

5 You know the guy who'd sold me the Topos? I would actually talk with him *three* times this day. First, when I bought the Topos and he was very helpful. Second, when I went back to buy the specialty bars and we chatted about flavors and insect repellants (of all things). And third, at the Vons: I was browsing, he was buying sardines. I like sardines, he said in that same calm, unruffled tone he used when selling me the shoes, I know they're hiking food but I like them even in normal life. And we chatted a bit about tuna in a bag, and then we went our separate ways. I know Bishop is a small town so seeing the guy-from-the-store at the grocery makes perfect sense, but it still had that seeing-your-teacher-at-the-store-in-summer vibe: that certain strangeness born of something being seemingly out of place (although, of course, it's perfectly *in* place).

6 This next section will be long--a 6 day (or longer) carry from Bishop to Vermillion Valley Resort. I confirmed that I can pack at max 6 days of food in the bear canister. I also picked up some "first day" food that I stuffed into my hip belt pocket. In theory, this will result in a full bear canister at the end of day 1, but that's ok: I'm planning to get to Rae Lakes, where there's a bear box. At the end of day 2, hopefully I'll have eaten 1 day of the bear canister, freeing enough room to pack in all my scented toiletries. That way, I should be able to be bear safe throughout the entire section. At least that's the plan! (And I recognize that no plan survives first contact with the enemy; we'll see how it goes!)

The rest of the day was consumed in the usual chores: laundry, cleaning gear, charging gear (and using the solar panel for some of this), airing out the sleeping bag (which I did on a chair in the middle of the lawn, in true hiker-trash fashion), sorting through the resupply and packing it away. All the little things that consume so much time and make each town visit this weird combination of complete laid-back relaxation when I'm jawing with other hikers, juxtaposed with periods of abject rush when I'm working through chores. It's exhausting really, but also good: makes you want to just end all this hurry-hurry rush-rush and get back out on the trail!

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