Day 98 - Tuesday, August 3

At the Scottish Inn in Ashland (left trail at mile 1717.7). A zero day.

We took our time getting ready in the morning abut finally headed out to Little Shop of Bagels for breakfast. It was good and they even wrote a nice note on my bag.

We then walked back to the hotel and passed an award winning garden.

We packed our things and went to check out, but the office was locked. We finally found someone who could help us, but this was the most bizarre experience I think I've had at a hotel so far. We caught the bus downtown and I picked up a new cookset at the outfitter, so J-PRO can have my old one. Frank, Lenore, and I then walked to a sweet shop where we got some sweets. I got tiramisu and ice cream, both of which were good. Lenore then went to walk in the nearby park and Frank and I took the bus to the other end of town where we went to the Bi-Mart for a few items and then nextdoor to Goodwill.

We planned to dress up and go out to a fancy dinner to celebrate the end of California. After a long time of shopping, Frank got a dress and I got a nice shirt and pair of jeans. We walked over to our hotel for the night and checked in before going to the grocery to resupply and Rite Aid to weigh ourselves. I'm right about the weight I started the trail, but factoring in the fact that I'd been stuffing myself the past two days, I'm sure I'm down several pounds. Back at the hotel, Hocus Pocus showed up while we were we sorting our resupply. Frank and I then changed into our 'new' clothes and Hocus Pocus remarked how we now looked like adults. Apparently I even looked like I could own a midsize suburban home.

We decided on a restaurant right next door rather than one of the fancier ones downtown because the transportation logistics were a little complicated. We ate and watched skateboarding and track events from the Olympics. After dinner, we walked to the Shop-N-Kart grocery under a smoke-screened red sun.  The smoke had gotten worse throughout the day, but we hope it'll clear out tonight.

At the grocery, we meandered the aisles and Frank found some vegan jerky that she hadn't been able to find at the regular grocery. The store was interesting as it had a little bit of a hippie vibe but had a great bulk foods section. We wish we'd known about it before we did our resupply.

We then went back to the hotel and chatted with Lenore while watching Hocus Pocus eat Chef Boyardee Beefaroni out of a cup. After that interesting experience, Frank and I made a plan for hiking tomorrow and then turned in. We're planning massive miles, trying to average about 40 miles per day over the next week to make logistics easier for getting around an upcoming fire closure. We'll see how it goes.