Week 7: Green Valley to Tehachapi
Day 43
Nearo, 2 miles
We woke up at Casa de Luna with a rough morning for both of us - I had a burn on my hand from the refried beans and Easy accidentally spilled an entire cup of coffee in his sleeping bag. Since we slept in, we missed Terrie's pancake breakfast at 7am. We opted to go back to Heart and Soul for breakfast.
We came back to give Terrie goodbye hugs and her volunteer helper "Little Steps" offered to give us a ride. We decided to take an alternate route on the road so we could check out a historic bar and inn in the Lake Hughes area (The Rock Inn). We ended up getting a ride from a young girl in a very small car who was excited to hear more about our travels. The Rock Inn was a neat place that seemed to be loved by locals and traveling bikers. We had read about their Philly cheesesteaks so we both ordered one for lunch. They did have rooms available for the night, so we decided to stay. The hotel upstairs was very bare bones. The bathroom was separate from the rooms and there was no TV or wifi. They were having all-you-can-eat pasta night downstairs though, so we went back down for dinner.
Day 44
14 miles
Today we had a first of its kind moment - we took an uber! We took it to a small market near the trail to have sandwiches. This market was listed in our guidebook as being very hiker-friendly with staff willing to drive us the remaining distance to the trail.
As we were finishing our sandwiches, I noticed a man with a confederate flag t-shirt sit down at a nearby picnic table to smoke a cigarette. I'd guess he was wearing it because of the ongoing issue of confederate flags being in public spaces in the South. I couldn't imagine how we would have felt to be around this man wearing his shirt if we weren't white and I wondered if other hikers had felt unsafe or offended by the same experience. This symbol represents pain and suffering for so many people. Because we had read that the staff would be willing to take hikers to the trail, we asked in the deli if it might be possible. The deli manager said she'd be happy to let someone named Marshall drive us in her car. Easy mentioned the possibility of the confederate flag t-shirt guy being Marshall. I responded that we'd easily decline the ride if that were the case. We aren't that desperate for a ride (we are walking 2,650 miles - we can walk back to the trail if we need to). Turns out, Marshall was a talkative and tan fella who used to work for Anheuser-Busch, who told us stories over the sound of his beeping seat belt reminder the entire ride from the market to the trail. He was very friendly.
We stopped by "Hikertown," another place where hikers can camp or stay in hostel-like accommodations. We were there just for water but got to see a few familiar faces, including High Risk.
Then we headed back on the trail towards the LA aqueduct. This section was very difficult because we needed to either walk on road, concrete, or the exposed aqueduct pipe. We ended the day with very sore feet and bodies. My heels were feeling especially painful, and I was worried that my new shoes with the higher heel may be tougher to break in that I thought.
Day 45
17 miles
Today was a very hot day in the desert. We went through two wind farms. We saw lots of new hikers, including a group of hikers in their early 20s that had hiked 31 miles the day before - wow!! It's times like these that we feel our mid-30s age category and our sore joints just thinking of that kind of distance in the desert.
My big success of the day was buying tickets for one of my favorite bands who is coming to Portland in November. Tickets were released today and I knew they'd sell out. Service was spotty, so after about 12 attempts to buy them online, and then a dropped call with the ticket agency (after 30 minutes of being on hold and then my call getting answered), I was super excited to finally get tickets through the online system. It's a fun thing to look forward to for when we're back in the Fall.
Easy had a great idea to buy a battery-powered radio before we left. We took turns listening to it this afternoon to help power us through the heat.
We got to a very special spot at Mile 549 that Trail Angels maintain and restock for hikers with chairs (such a luxury to sit in a chair instead of in the ground - much easier to get up!), water, a trail log book, snacks and photos of the area before a fire burned the area. Just a mile later, we saw Randy and Cogent at the campsite we were aiming for. Our camp had a great view overlooking the glow of a small town called Lancaster.
Day 46
9 miles
We woke up around 5:30am to do the final stretch to the highway. I was feeling fast this morning so I went ahead on my own for a little bit. A few miles in I remembered that I was the one with the sunscreen so I stopped to wait for Easy. I didn't want him to turn into a lobster! We ended up hiking 9 miles in 3 hours, it was great!
The last stretch went through another wind farm and had a lot of switchbacks. Then we got down to the highway, where hikers decide whether to hitchhike the 9 miles to Tehachapi or the 11 miles to Mojave. We tried hitchhiking for about fifteen minutes but weren't having any luck. Then a Tehachapi Trail Angel that goes by "Bucksnort" pulled up and offered us a ride. A German couple behind us ran across the street to jump in Bucksnort's truck too. He gave us quite the tour of the town and pointed out his favorite restaurants to us. He happily took us to the post office so we could pick up our packages and then drove the four of us to the Best Western. We walked around town for a bit and I took a dip in the pool. It felt good to stretch my ankle in both cold and hot water.
We met Michelle and Beat, Meaghan and Ian, Salty Dog, and many other hikers at the local barbecue joint for dinner. It was so fun to catch up and enjoy smoked ribs together, yum! Beat had mentioned seeing a bar earlier that day called "The Last Chance Saloon." He suggested we go in a group. We headed over with him and Michelle, Meagan and Ian and Ina and her boyfriend or husband (the German hikers who hopped in on he hitchhike into town). When we got closer we realized the saloon was actually a VFW. We walked in and were greeted by 3 bar goers and 1 bartender. They asked if we had a veteran with us. Easy and I felt a little bit like clueless Americans to not realize the requirement for entry. We explained that we were hiking the PCT and one older veteran named Jesse stood up and volunteered to be our sponsor. The bartender then assumed we were all from different countries and began to ask each couple where they were from. They were excited to welcome the hikers from Switzerland, Germany and Canada. When it became our turn and we said "the US" they looked at us like "why did you think the VFW was a public bar?" Part of me was wishing we would've just said Canada. We had both been to VFWs and not have to be with a veteran but perhaps some are more strict than others. We had a great time there and had a couple drinks. A few folks tried Wild Turkey bourbon! Easy played some bluegrass on the jukebox and Beat loved being introduced to both Wild Turkey and bluegrass. I kept trying to make his trail name "Wild Turkey" but he thinks the whole trail name thing is stupid. "We have great names Stacy, we don't need trail names!"
Day 47
Zero miles
We slept in late today and it was marvelous. Then we went to Big Papa's Steakhouse for some underdone steaks. We were too hungry to have them cooked longer!
We returned to the post office to see if a couple of our remaining packages had come in. While we were there a man named Jim offered to wait for us and give us a ride. It seemed like a very nice offer. We walked out to his car and he seemed like a hiker type with a brown Subaru Outback. Easy sat in the front and I sat in the back. When we pulled up to the Best Western Jim asked for our names so he could keep us in his prayers. We told him, and then Easy shook his hand. I reached my hand towards him from the backseat but he didn't shake my hand. It was very strange. I reversed my extended hand and got out of the car. I noticed a National Rifle Association lifetime member sticker on the window before we walked away. Jim gave his phone number to Easy in case we needed a ride back to the post office or trail in the next few days. As we walked away, Easy and I talked about how either his peripheral vision was no good or he wouldn't shake my hand because I'm a woman. It reminded me of the Mike Pence perspective on not being / dining alone with women. Limiting where women can and can't be. Very misogynistic and dark ages. Many important business decisions and professional development conversations happen over meals or drinks after hours. Women can't access those conversations because of their gender? Ridiculous, backwards and wrong.
I had seen on the PCT Facebook group that there was going to live music at the brewery that afternoon. Easy was still wanting to take it "Easy" so he stayed in the hotel room. High Risk was interested so I met him there. I also met two other hikers, Charlie Brown and Texas Blue. Joe from Portland (now "Luigi") also popped by with his dad.
The beer at the brewery was delicious. I had the blueberry gose and a spicy hefeweizen. After the brewery I met up with Michelle and Beat to go to dinner at Jake's Steakhouse. They were totally full and High Risk just happened to show up as we were leaving. We all decided to go to the pizza place and I brought Easy back some slices and wings for him to enjoy in bed.
Day 48
Zero miles
Today was an errand day! We had found on Yelp that there was a Pho Restaurant, so we started with brunch there. Then we popped by Baskin Robbins for a cappuccino blast to fuel our grocery shopping trip. We saw lots of other hikers at Albertsons and it was fun to catch up near the ramen and the snack pack aisles. We also popped by Big Five for a couple of freeze dried meals.
Easy decided to go to the pool in the afternoon and accidentally ended up dropping his cell phone and cracking the screen. There's an Apple Store in Bakersfield that we'll have to go to tomorrow.
Day 49
Zero miles
We woke up and begin separating out the food for this leg of the trio and the next leg of the trip so we can send it ahead to ourselves at Kennedy Meadows. We also needed to pack up everything and try to decide what we're bringing with us and what we're sending along. Easy was going to take the bus around noon to Bakersfield. The time crunch to get to and from the post office before the bus departure was getting tighter and tighter. I was using the Best Western computer to get my blog post out. I texted Easy a picture of the Tehachapi Trail Angel list so he could call someone for a ride. He was worried about timing and texted Jim. He said he could be there in 20 minutes. I was disappointed when Easy told me he texted him because I had gotten a strange vibe from him from the anti-handshake moment. As we waited, we realized it would make more sense if I went to the post office and Easy went to the bus stop. I suggested Easy text Jim to tell him it would just be me. I had a feeling that Jim wouldn't go for that. Sure enough, he texted right back and said that he'd prefer it was both of us. I knew it - he didn't shake my hand on purpose. His text said: "The preference would be for both of you to come if that could work." He pulled up shortly after his text and I suggested Easy just go with him alone. It felt awkward and uncomfortable to me and I was disappointed that we didn't call a Trail Angel instead.
Easy went to Bakersfield and I finished my blog post at the hotel. The hotel was very nice to keep our big packs behind their front desk all day. I then walked to Jake's Steakhouse for lunch and High Risk had the same idea. We talked with the owner Barbara and she was thrilled when I gave her some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory toffee from the care package my mom sent. She offered free dinners for me, Easy and High Risk as a thank you for the toffee and as a kind gesture for us being PCT hikers. It was super sweet. When Easy got back we took her up in her offer and had a delicious meal.
We had talked about leaving this evening to do some night hiking but we had eaten so much that we decided to stay another night at the campground / grassy park at the airport. I realized at about 10pm that there was another package coming to us that we hadn't picked up yet. We'd have to go back to that dang post office in the morning! Camping at the airport was a really noisy choice, as the trains run through Tehachapi at all hours of the night.
