Day 92: ok we're leaving...for reals!!

Thursday 7/19/12
Miles 0.5

Why is it always so difficult and time consuming to try and leave town?! Lol. We basically picked up today where we left off yesterday before the REI trip. I went to dry the sleeping bags and Kyle went to do grocery shopping, and then mailed all our boxes out.

We left our packs at the Lake of the Sky Outfitter store. Thanks guys!! Its so much easier to run around and do stuff without shlepping the pack around too. That shop is so awesome. Plus they have a super cute shop puppy named Bodey that hangs around the shop and licks all the PCT hiker's legs. Lol. I want a puppy!! :).

We didn't end up getting out of town til 7pm I think. Lol. Ugh. What the hell did we do all day?! A really cool guy picked us up when we were hitching out of town. He hiked the AT in 2008. Thanks dude!! I hope you do the PCT one day too! :)

We didn't get too far on the trail. Lol. Ah well. We'll make up the miles. I'm soooo stoked to have my 5 finger shoes again yaaaay! :)

Random thought I had today. I saw a sign in a bathroom somewhere that read, "Life is not about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself." I was thinking about that in context of the PCT. The Mojave desert section was kind of like a Phoenix experience. Going through the desert it just wears you out and burns you to the ground. Then you rise out of the ashes and are reborn again as you enter the Sierras. :D apparently there is another really dry stretch in northern California. Noooo! Lol. I thought the desert was over! Although I loved the desert. I really did, I thought it was beautiful. But damn those 18/19/25 miles of waterless stretches really wear you out. Plus I think the desert is way harder on your feet because it's so hot. People were getting blisters left and right.

Oh, funny thing that happened today. As we were hitching out, a mom and her kids asked to take a picture with us. Lol!! This was while we were standing in the road with my Hitchiking sign that says "hiker to trail". Haha, reminds me of the days when I surf sunset beach in Hawaii and the Japanese tourists would always ask to take pics of me as I'm walking to/from the water with my surfboard. Lol. I thought that was cool; some people go out of their way to avoid us when we're hitchiking. Oh no, hikertrash! Hahaha! :D

By the way, people in south lake Tahoe drive like maniacs. Geez. Kyle says he thought it was only in SoCal (and jersey) where people drive like a bat out of hell. I suggested that perhaps it was all the yahoo douchebag tourists from LA. :D by the way, I absolutely despise the general population and cities of southern California, incase you haven't guessed, from reading my blog. :). In all seriousness though, when I hitchike out of town I usually stand right on the road, in the shoulder, if it's a very large shoulder, because it's a lot more obvious to motorists. And I tend to try and be right in people's line of sight when I hitchike. Today was the first time I seriously wondered if a car was going to hit me. Yikes.

Ps. If any of Kyle's friends and family are reading this, he *loves* those Mountain House freeze dried backpacking meals. They are all amazing. Except the spaghetti and meatball one. Lol. So if anyone wants to send him a care package, that would be a great thing to mail him. He also likes the thick kine beef jerky too. :D i dont think kyle reads my blog, so shhhh, dont tell him im pimping him out. Haha :) He hasn't updated his blog because his phone is lame and Sprint has super crappy reception. Yeah, they will tempt you with their $30/month unlimited everything plan, but that won't do any good if you never get service :D I have AT&T and I'm still getting 4 bars of service and Internet, even tho I'm on the trail somewhere, 13 miles outside of Tahoe. Whee! :D