Some thoughts before departure...

  • I am still not a vet, doctor, lawyer, dog trainer, cia agent, fbi agent or a navy seal so...walk
  • I am doing this for the challenge of course, and I hope to gain a confidence that comes with this type of endeavor. But also I hope to gain some new knowledge about the world and the truths that reside in it.
  • Am I walking to "find myself"? Or just to take a walk. You decide...and you'll probably be right.
  • I'm not in the best shape of my life, but I do have a lot of new great gear so....
  • After living with my parents the last 2 years, it makes perfect sense to walk 2650 miles - alone.
  • Yes there will be bears, cougars, rattlesnakes and scorpions both imagined and real along the way. I'm definitely more worried about those imagined.
  • Am I scared? Not as of yet, more of just a constantly increasing anticipation. But check back with me on the 3rd night in the desert.
  • I tried to keep my pack fairly light, but I definitely would not call it ultralight. Somehow when I added up all my ultralight gear and put it in my ultralight pack, I ended up with just slightly heavy.
  • My biggest concern for this trip is that I get too hungry somewhere along the way, my brain goes awol as it usually does when I get hungry and subsequently you never hear from me again...I'll try to eat frequently.
  • I am not Christopher McCandless. This is not Into the Wild.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Relaxing can get boring

Day 42, a zero - I really tried hard this morning to stay asleep, but the sun had other plans. I was hungry anyway so it wasn't that bad and i got up at 7 on the dot. Had a real breakfast this morning courtesy of my Mothers food drop box. Had two bowls (well pots considering my limited kitchen) of cereal and a croissant and a fresh mango, oh and some dried mango. Sat around trying to warm up this morning and waited for the store to open. Once it did, i got a towel for a shower, put my laundry in, and started the process of dialing down the funk factor. The shower was like a wooden box enclosure from the knees up with sort of a shower head/spigot thing that had a fine mist that turned cold in the air and then a stream of molten lava water that hit me just about at my tailbone. Regardless it was wet, and i had soap, and it worked for the most part. I actually still have two spots on my ankles that apparently cannot come clean with soaps currently used by the general public, and i scrubbed hard.! After getting clean i got to put on my old yellow UCSB athletic dept t-shirt and a pair of blue jersey shorts that i keep in my bounce box. It was glorious. For those of you who are confused, a bounce box is a box of various things i will need along the way but do not want to carry, and so i send it ahead to various towns i know i'll be stopping in. Is it illegal grammar to end a sentence with in? Shit i did it again. Anyway so i spent the day basically trying to send blog posts, eating good food, and calling the parentos about various logistics before i head into the high country. I say "trying to send blog posts" because I've only managed to get "The Fan is still on High" to go through. I did drop it for the first time in 702.8 miles yesterday but it was a short fall. So it could be that i am even writing this for nothing as it will never reach you. I hope not, possibly it is just this particular pay phone. No other news really besides the ridiculous amount i feel i have already written. I did get into the "cyber cafe" today, which is code for a silver jetstream trailer with 4 laptops and Internet access. Got to check on my blog and read comments which is always good; keep them coming they are greatly appreciated. Lastly my feet are questioning my loyalty and have swollen up on me. Some people can pull off the cankles, but its not a good look for me. I think it's just the lack of ground pounding and having the extra room in my crocs to expand, but i would like to think there is some healing going on. Some folks i haven't seen for a while made there way in today, more to follow I'm sure. OK that's it for real- sorry i got too much time on my hands and no bedtime. Thought of the day(a quote i heard from another hiker in this case); you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning. Song of the day; devil with the blue dress-blues dress onnnn, devil with the blue dress awwwwhonnnnn. Craving of the day; an exact copy of the double scoop(1 vanilla, 1 strawberry) ice cream in a waffle cone i had in Lake Isabella that only cost me $1.45.


JWC on the PCT

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your jubilation over showering reminded me of back in the day when I lived in Fairbanks w/out running water. Ah, yes, those lovely showers in town!