Miles 558-566 (8 miles)
Elevation same as yesterday
Today was such an interesting and random day. Lol. But then again that can be said about almost everyday of this hike :)
I enjoyed the free continental breakfast with my 3 awesome roommates in the morning. The hotel was so cool, they let me store all my gear there so I could slack pack. Slackpacking is basically backpacking, but with minimal/no gear. The purists who hike the PCT consider slack packing cheating, but I consider it efficient. :D. So I left everything at the hotel, and carried only my pack with water and my vodka-soaked watermelon. Lol. This will be an epic 8 miles :D
I got a ride to the trailhead from a man who was a former scout-troop leader, who likes to pick up hikers because he likes to hear our stories. Cool dude. Anyhow, the 8 miles I hiked today were AWESOME. Holy cow I never walked so fast in my life it was amazing!! I did the 8 miles in just over 2.5 hours. I didn't start eating my watermelon til I was about 2 miles from my destination. I didn't want to get dehydrated. See, I may have stupid ideas but at least I'm somewhat smart about executing these ideas :D. I ran into 6 hikers slack packing southbound.
One of these guys was Hee Haw (he's a professional bluegrass musician, and is carrying a carbon-fiber mini-guitar on the trail) and the "PCT Men's Support Group". Lol, they're funny. Anyhow they borrowed a car from their friend and parked it at the road intersection where I was going, so they asked me to drive it back to the other end of this 8 mile section. STOKED!! This saves me from trying to get a hitch on a major highway where cars are going 70+mph. :)
My parents also drove out to meet me, and were waiting for me at the same road intersection, so I had them follow me, I went through Tehachapi to pick up my gear I left, then dropped the car off at the other trailhead, and rode to Mojave with my parents. Cool!! :). It was awesome to see my mom and dad, as this was the last place we could meet that is a somewhat reasonable drive from Los Angeles.
I had lunch with my parents at a Mexican place that had really good carne asada and horchatas. Stoked!! It was very decently priced too. It was so awesome to see my mom and dad. It was the first time I saw their new pickup truck too. They bought a brand new silver 4 door 4x4 Tacoma a while ago. (hey Craiggo, it's like a bigger version of yours!)
The truck is awesome. It has air lockers, a cover for the bed, a winch on the front, old man emu shocks, and all kinds of other epic modifications. My dad is a professional mechanic. Oh, for those of you in the LA area looking for an epic mechanic, he owns a Chevron gas station and an auto-repair shop by Cal State University LA. He's been there for over 30 years :) Look it up, it's called Eastern Car Care Center.
Bah, sorry I didn't take many photos today, I was so tired. Lol. My parents are on the Best Western Rewards program so they got me a room at the best western in Mojave. It's NICE. I feel so out of place, coming off the trail and going into a nice place like that. Lol. Anyhow, I was so grateful for the room. My mom and dad left in the late afternoon, they had to go home. I took a nap at 5pm, intending on waking up later, but I slept all through the night til 7:30am the next day. Yeah, I was *that* tired. Lol.
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