Turtle in the trail

Day 23 - 5/3/10
Last night was interesting, it ended up pouring buckets, so I had to deal with a soaked tent in the morning. The inside was dry, but by the time I had it all packed away the entire thing was completely wet. I have it sitting out in the backyard of Uncle Johnny's now, airing out.

I expected it to be cruddy all day so I had my jacket on when I started, but within an hour of hiking I took all my layers off down to my t-shirt because I was sweating like a madman. After that things went swimmingly, and I met a group of six who had just started a 5-day northbound trip. I hiked with them for a bit, talking to the guy in back named Darren because he was closest to me. About 1/2 live in California, within an hour of LA, so we talked about In-N-Out Burger for a while. Man did it make me hungry.

I hiked with them to the shelter, and after that we sort of parted ways. One of them gave me ear plugs because I was complaining about how bad it can be in shelters when you have a snorer. I thought that was pretty nice. Anyway, the second 1/2 of the day seemed to fly by, and before I knew it I was almost in Erwin. The very last couple hundred yards I was walking down the slope, and right there in the middle of the trail was a tortoise or turtle. Right in the middle. I snapped a picture, it looked very angry, and 5 minutes later I was at Uncle Johnny's hostel.

I immediately unpacked my bag and layed everything out to dry, including putting up the tent, and then took a nice hot shower. Felt great. I needed to resupply, and I was feeling very hungry, so I decided to ride a bike into town instead of waiting for the 6pm shuttle they have. They provide free bikes, which is nice, but they're in terrible condition. I had this haggard hunk of metal going down the road, I must've looked hilarious with my pack on my back hunkered down on this tiny thing. Eventually I made it to Erwin, got a phonecall in with Jen, then did up the KFC BUFFET!!! My life is now complete...well almost. I had never been to one, and I don't think I will again. I overdid it a bit. Next stop was the grocery store for my resupply, and while there I decided to buy a corncob pipe and a little bit of tobacco to keep bugs away on those bad nights when I'm camped out.

Done with chores, I rode back to Uncle Johnny's, and the return trip wasn't as bad. I pulled in at 7:50, then hopped on the computer to write this. Tomorrow I'm going to zero, but not here, just down the trail a bit where I can camp out for free. I'll probably get one more shower in before I leave though. Then it's back on the trail Wednesday. I don't have my book handy, so I'm not sure at the mileage, but I did around 13+ today, and I think Uncle's is at the 340 mark. I'll update that more accurately in tomorrow's post. Feeling great!

And one last thing, I wanted to thank everyone, friends, family, strangers, all of you who leave comments, big and small. I may not respond to most of them (sorry...will try to work on that), but I want you know know I read them all, and every last one is appreciated. They keep me going, so keep 'em coming!

Total miles: 340 (+/- .5)