It’s a chilly evening – I nestle down tight in my sleeping bag, letting my breath be my space heater and tightening my hood against the cold. When I’m out, I’m out – I’m hardly awoken by my alarm that’s 30 minutes earlier than we’ve agreed, and then it’s only that Pineapple’s chirps a merry tune at us that I even register that it’s morning. But nobody moves. Someone should move. The alarm goes off. Nobody moves. Continue reading
Tag: thruhiker
Day 39 – Wiped
It’s so hard to move in the morning, cocooned down into my sleeping bag. I’m mostly shamed into it, when everyone shifts and stirs. Even though I cowboy camped, Homegrown and Sprinkles, with their tent, are packed and out before me. But I’m on my feet by 5:30, and rolling out into the dawn. Continue reading
Day 38 – Foothills
I wake at dawn, and then again late – 6:30am. Rad that I think this is late now. Of course, one of the first things I do is find an earwig in my sleeping bag, so that puts a wee damper on my enjoyment, but I sweep it out no harm no foul. I need motivation to move before the sprinklers come on at 8, but I give myself a half-hour of Facebook before starting to gather my things to move them to the tarmac. Continue reading
Day 37 – Chepapachi
I’ve cowboyed on the lawn of the airport’s park, and the spot is pretty great – flat, out of the light, not too close to anyone. There are earwigs when I wake up, though – in my bag, on me, crawling all over the tyvek. WELP TIME TO GET UP. Continue reading
Day 36 – Townward Bound
Zippy and I wake early, sand in our eyes ears nostrils everywhere – and get a bit of a better look at our campspot. We did the best we could with what we were given, but it’s amusing to us in the light of day nonetheless. Continue reading
Day 35 – (Wind)Milling
I’m up earlier than Spaceman-not-Spaceman – the dawn is drawing in vibrant colors on the morning sky, and I am morally obligated to visually document how awesome it is. So before packing, before much thought, before much of anything, there is beauty, there is light. Continue reading
Day 34 – Right Meow
I’m up at 3:30 again, floundering around in the darkness for clothes pack stuff to get out. I’m actually awake by the time I’m packed, feeling good and ready to kill it today. 16.6 miles to Hikertown, and I’m trying to make it before the heat of the day sets in. 4am and I’m ready to rock. Continue reading
Day 33 – 500
It’s up at 4:45 today – Sasha left yesterday afternoon, so I’m making something of an effort to catch her, at least before she gets in and out of Tehachapi. Matt has agreed to give Moses a ride out1, and Moses has insisted he’s leaving Casa de Luna with me, so Matt’s agreed to give me a ride, too. The plan is to leave by 5:30 – there’s an 11.3 mile roadwalk around the closure that I want to finish before the heat of the day sets in, and I’m done in enough time to hit the road. Continue reading
Day 32 – Pay it Forward
My alarm goes off at 5:00 – and I turn it off. I roll over and sleep until 7:30. OH GOD IT’S LATE. But I have nothing to do for most of the day; it’s all just waiting until tonight. I’ll hike out around 6, walk back to the trail, and camp in preparation for the following day. Continue reading
Day 31 – House of the Moon
I wake at 5:30 to help with breakfast; Mama T shoos me back to sleep. I wake at 6:30; again, I’m shooed back to bed. So I lounge and I write until I can stay down no more, and I come just in time to eat pancakes and then do dishes. And then the day is my oyster. My relaxing, nothing-to-do-unless-I’m-asked oyster. Continue reading