Monday morning, time to go back to work. I awoke, took a shower, got breakfast, and was ready to get going on journaling and working on projects around Eric and Ashley's house.
At mid morning I started on the journaling to begin writing about the events that have occurred since leaving to go back to the trail. The cell phone rang shortly after I began typing the Thursday entry. It was Bloody Knuckles! And she and the Batteries gang were in Sierra City! Man they have been flying since getting out of the Sierras. She inquired about my foot and wondered when I would be getting back on trail. She gave me the lowdown on trail conditions....mosquitoes, mosquitoes, mosquitoes. Gosh, I can't wait to get back on trail! She said everyone was healthy. She reported that Intruder was behind the group hiking with his girlfriend Crystal for awhile, which I knew from the note he left for me at Tuolomne Meadows. She wants to pick up the pace and may go ahead of the group if they don't want to do so. And she said Freight Train may do the same and may actually start hiking bigger miles than she wants to do, so the group may be disbanding soon. This is totally normal and typical of long distance hiking. Inevitably, everyone has to hike his/her own hike and it's difficult for groups to have everyone on the same page for any length of time.
The cell phone isn't working properly for some reason at Eric and Ashley's house...I don't know if a tower is down or what, but sometimes it has been working, other times not. I got a couple messages mid afternoon which I listened to. The first was from Happy. She and Phantom and Bad Moon and Whoop Ass had made it to Kennedy Meadows North by Monday midday and hitched the 10 miles there from the road crossing to eat lunch. But they were planning to hitch back after lunch to keep hiking on to S. Lake Tahoe by this coming Friday. They had heard from Hombre, who was hiking with Razz, that I had to turn around since the foot wasn't cooperating with my hike.
The other message was from Nightingale who with Bono was driving back across the country with her dog after attending a wedding in the Bronx. I called them back and they were in Nebraska which she said is a really big state to cross. They spent last night in Indiana and tried to sleep in the car but it was so hot the dog panted all night and they couldn't get any decent sleep. Their goal for tonight was to make it to Wyoming and sleep in the car again at a high elevation on a mountain range. They plan to return to the trail at Sonora Pass late in the week and will be hiking slow miles until the dog gets into shape and can handle the bigger mile days.
Nitro called from South Lake Tahoe. We talked for awhile. She has been hiking alone with some groups a couple days ahead and other groups a couple days behind. She also reported that mosquitoes have been bad but that the trail has been snow free and much easier to hike once north of Sonora Pass. We will stay in touch because she doesn't really want to hike alone and I don't either and our hiking pace and styles are very similar.
I got a late message from Pepper Man and Jump Back who were also in S. Lake Tahoe and who were apparently sharing a room with Nitro. It was too late to connect with them so I will try to catch up tomorrow to get an update on their progress and to find out how the trail has been treating them going south from Oregon.
After doing some journaling, I moved outside to begin doing some sanding work on the deck. I made the mistake of using too fine grit and was working myself to the bone leveling out the deck planks that I had worked on last week replacing rotted out wood.
Eric made it home from Colorado and jumped on the train from the airport. Ashley and I met him with the car a few blocks from the house and we proceeded straight to dinner for some yummy Dim Sum.
After dinner we returned to the homestead for some Tillamook ice cream which is awesome stuff and began watching the Third Season DVD collection of the television series 24. It was the first time the three of us have been together since Eric picked up the DVD a couple weeks ago and we weren't going to watch any episodes unless all three of us were together. While watching, I consumed some of my new favorite beer, Bridgeport ESB, an amazing beer that unfortunately is not distributed on the East coast.
The foot looks better, but still seems to be several days from closing up where the incision is made. I remain focused on hiking, getting my weight back up for the big miles ahead, and helping my trail angels with the numerous projects to be tackled here at their Portland home. Lucy continues to keep going with her crazy antics....she has destroyed another pair of my hiking socks now and did a great number on my pocket knife. She's a sly one, that knucklehead labrador!
