At the Baymont Inn in Tehachapi (left trail at mile 558.5). Walked 16.9 miles today.
Got a solid 8 hours of sleep last night for I think only the second time on trail. A relatively gentle climb preceded a short downhill where I could hear coyotes yipping across the valley.
Began a climb to a great viewpoint.
Thought this was the top, but kept climbing to another viewpoint, then another.
Finally reached the top, then shortly after got to a really nice water cache complete with chairs and an umbrella. Hung out here for a bit with Old Dubs, Katie, Mud Dog, Desert Flower, Uno, and Light Foot. Then we pushed on to try to get to Willow Springs Road where we'd hitch to Tehachapi. There's another way in to the town about 8 miles further on, but we understand that it's a tougher hitch. On the way, Desert Flower and I came across a snake, it didn't move much so we moved around it but we weren't sure if it was venomous or not so we waited for Katie and Jedi.
Jedi identified it as non-venomous so we gave it a nudge off the trail. Walked through a massive wind farm (looked it up later and saw that there are 600 turbines here - 3rd largest onshore wind farm in the world).
We got to the road and split into two groups (with the idea that it would be easier for 3 people to hitch rather than the 6 of us who were here). In about 10 minutes, a pickup truck, driven by local teacher Richard, pulled over for the first group and then they convinced him to pick up the other three, so we all got into town. He took us to a Bar/Restaurant, P-Dub.
A local guy, Billy, bought shots for the group and shortly after, he bought a second round. We gorged ourselves on food. I got a grilled cheese and a large salad and ate a bunch of Desert Flower's fried pickles. Then Billy bought a third round of shots for us. We called a cab but after an hour, they hadn't shown up, so Billy offered us a ride to the hotel.
Mud Dog had gotten a room since he's getting off trail for a wedding. We piled in with him, so 6 of us are in the room tonight. We showered and presoaked our socks in a trash can. The water turned very brown. Desert Flower, Katie, and I went next door to Wendy's for a Frosty. We then started some laundry and watched TV. Ally is still hurting and she's limping so badly, it looks like she's trying to waltz when she walks. Hoping some zeros can help her.
Hope everyone has healed from their ailments. What kind of shots did Billy give out? Whiskey, tequila?
ReplyDeleteWhisky
DeleteThat's a beautiful snake and I do love the desert shots. Shots?! Shots of love to you all xo
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty snake! Glad it was non-venomous and you could get it to move along. I love that you can hear the coyotes, that must be cool. Sounds like a fun day! Hope you enjoy your zeros.
ReplyDelete