Start: 1985.3
Stop: 2002
Today’s miles: 16.7
Total PCT miles: 1854.2
Well, my reptilian tormentor joined me in my dreams. Stupid damn snake. I was startled awake, dreaming that the demon was trying to get into my tent-then realized it was Strider! She was telling me that her and Hobble-it were packed and heading out. It wasn’t even 5am! No way I’d be catching them now.. I told them bye and tucked myself back into my quilt, both sad that I’m a lazy turd and wouldn’t just get up and start packing, and happy that I could maybe get a little more snake-free dreaming in..
I pressed snooze until 6:45! Jesus Christ! I left by 7:15, irritable with myself and absolutely terrified of every bush and twig and lizard on the trail. I had to poop pretty early on, and I was seriously so freaked out by that huge nope rope from yesterday that I waited until the very last second to get off the trail and dig a hole. I was also right out in the open. I’m pretty sure anyone within a mile could see my behind, but I was NOT about to go walking around in scrub brush that’s doing nothing but hiding snakes. Nope. No thank you.
Anyway. The trail wasn’t terrible.. the views were great and it was mostly downhill. There weren’t many climbs at all and I saw not one snake. I did however count 85 lizards by 10am and then gave up on the counting because I’m lazy and keeping up with the count was making my head hurt. Ha. Oh! I also saw my very first Joshua Trees! They remind me of palm trees after Edward Scissorhands got ahold of them. Sharp, odd, but remarkably neat to see.
I made it down to the two lane highway by 2:30pm. Strider and Hobble-it were long gone of course. The road crossing was at the top of Walker Pass, so it took a few minutes to get in a good hitching spot to be seen early enough for the car to pull over safely, but also have enough room so big trucks could get in the pull off lane to slow down for their descent. It was brutally hot on that asphalt. I was dumping buckets, with my thumb hiked out and trying to be bubbly and happy so someone would stop for me.
So many cars passed. And so did tons of tractor trailers. They all got into the far lane, so many times I would think they were stopping for me, but they were just preparing to slow down for the other side. It took roughly 30 minutes before a sweet mid 50s Romanian man stopped in his massive tractor trailer, hauling stuff for the military base in town where I was headed. He helped me lift my pack in between the two seats, then gave me a soda from his cooler, and peppered me sweetly about the trail and told me all about truck driving for the whole 45 minutes to Ridgecrest. I feel like I could get a job driving now..
My new friend dropped me off at the corner of two main roads, Taco Bell to my right, the military base he was headed to on the left. Perfect! I walked the half mile to Taco Bell in the heat, and then absolutely demolished an ungodly amount of bean burritos. I have loved those things since childhood, I don’t foresee that ever changing. I also drank two huge Mountain Dews. Lord, please be with me.. and my stomach when all of this hits.
When I left Taco Bell and headed towards the grocery store (about a half mile away), I chatted with Marquis. He would be getting back to Hickertown from playing in San Pedro first thing tomorrow morning. He’s been helping a man fix up his vintage cars. Pretty neat stuff, Ferraris and Rolls Royces. The man, Richard, arranged a place for me to sleep inside tonight at Hikertown, so now I just have to get there.
I resupplied from the grocery store and also bought a black marker and a poster board. Outside, I packed all my stuff into my backpack and wrote “PCT HIKER TO HIKERTOWN (HWY 138)” on the poster board-in hopes someone would stop knowing I wasn’t homeless or something. I made my way back to the busy intersection I got dropped off at and started my hitch hiking attempts. It was after 5pm, the sun was dipping, and I was worried no one would stop.
I’m not sure how long I was out there, but it was long enough that I was starting to contemplate walking to a motel and trying again in the morning. That would be my plan if the sun started setting, for sure. But, to my surprise, a car pulled over for me! It was a father and adult daughter, headed home with dinner they just picked up. They originally said they could just take me to the next town, where it would be easier to get a hitch, which was totally fine.
Close to the next town, the two decided that they’d drive to the house, the dad would stay and the daughter would drive me to Hikertown and come back. They had me laughing the whole way to their house, hilarious banter and all around good vibes. The woman got to the driver’s seat, and I moved up to the passenger’s seat and we took off-non stop comfortable chatter the whole time. We sang along to the radio and laughed-and I swear it felt like I’d known this girl forever, like we’d been friends out on road trips before.
The problem arose when I pulled up the GPS again and we realized we were still 45 minutes away.. and my new friend dropped one hell of a bomb: her headlights don’t work. Whoops. Well. That changes things. We were coming up to Mojave, a small town along the main two lane highway cutting through California. I told her she could just drop me off in this town, preferably at a motel, and I’d be more than grateful. She’d have time to get home before the sun was completely gone (if she hurried), and I’d just sleep in a motel and try to hitch the 45 minutes to Hikertown first thing in the morning.
She agreed. I offered her gas money, either in cash or at a pump, and she accepted. We popped into a gas station and I put $20 in her tank before she drove me to a motel right along the road I’d need to be on in the morning. She waited for me to confirm they had a room for me before hopping out and hugging me bye, like old friends.. then she drove off-literally-into the sunset. I hope she made it home alright.
The motel is -well- a motel. No shampoo or conditioner, only a tiny bar of soap in the room, otherwise it was clean and the air conditioner worked. I walked down the street a little to a Family Dollar, got shampoo and conditioner, then walked next door to that to a McDonald’s. I got my food to go, came back to the room, and showered before eating. I thought I’d be starving, but I guess when you eat your weight in bean burritos it curbs your appetite for awhile.
I talked with Mom and with Marquis. I’ll get up at 7 and make sure the sun is up before starting to hitch.. this town isn’t along the trail, so it’s mostly truck drivers and people passing through. It doesn’t give off the safest of vibes, but it is what it is and I have to get the rest of the way to my friend.. so, what can ya do? Ha. Ok.. time to sleep! I’m worn out! Today has been a long one, it’s hard to believe I hiked 16 miles before all of this town and hitching business! Sweet dreams!