In Transit - Friday, May 30

We are all going somewhere, either physically across the surface of the globe, forward in our lives or forward in time, or some combination of the three. Some people have stopped moving physically and have planted roots to move their lives forward through time. We have met some on the trail that move across the globe and forward in time, but don't advance their lives, the drifters. And we all know some that move forward in time, but nothing else, choosing to, or through fate of circumstance end up living an arrested life. The one movement we cannot stop is the forward march of time. There are many sayings out there about how we are all given the same amount of time, it is up to us to choose how to use it.

Sally and I gave ourselves 91 days, from April 8 to July 8, to hike and experience the PCT in what we hoped would be an adventure. It has been all we hoped for and more. We hoped to move forward in all three venues, time, geography and experiences. Again, we feel blessed to have had such great fortune.

Although it is a month away we can feel the time we set aside coming to a close. There is so much trail to hike and so little time. Sally's two week hiatus for her foot and my three day side track with the runs set us back in time and forced a decision. Should we just keep moving up the trail and get as far as we can, or can we better utilize the time we have left. Once on a mission I plod forward, conquering time and distance without considering such possibilities. However, my life partner has a mind that constantly evaluates and analyzes and creates alternate scenarios. So it was Sally who realized if we stayed on the trail sequentially gobbling up miles our time would runout before we could complete the most beautiful part of the trail, the High Sierra from Whitney to Yosemite. As we sweated under our tarp in the desert sun a few days ago she realized we were going to repeat our hot tarp scenario for the next 180 miles and thereby only have time for less than 100 miles of the 280 in the high country. So, the decision was made to skip forward 180 desert trail miles to Kennedy Meadows and the start of the Sierra.

We woke in the Tehachapi airport picnic area after a night filled with passing freight trains blowing their whistles. Sally only heard one, but I thought it was an endless stream.

We returned to the Pilot's lounge to shower, cook breakfast and relax for the morning before walking the mile to K-Mart to catch our bus to Mojave, the first leg of today's transit to Kennedy Meadows. We found a young thru hiker, Vegetative, lounging in a recliner when we entered. As we talked with him his anger at the world quickly became apparent. He was convinced the government, large corporations and the rich were in a vast conspiracy to subjugate us all and we were powerless to change anything. He had never voted, considering it a joke and a worthless waste of effort. We talked about the power of one person and the difference that could be made. How Sally's dad got elected to the PUD and helped stop the wasteful spending on the WPPSS projects. How Mike Owen organized SW Lewis county to stop the siting of three nuclear power plants and those same people stopped a medical waste incinerator and a prison. Then we elaborated on the work of Vision Toledo and how it brought the community together to improve the economic opportunity of the town. It took an hour of finding common ground and building upon it to help him see he could make a difference if he choose to work from within the system to effect positive change. Both Sally and I were surprised when, as he was leaving he thanked us profusely for getting him out of his funk and giving him useful ideas on how he could make his voice heard and effect change. He was returning home after the hike to organize a group to bring an end to the fluoridation of water in his home town.

We caught the bus near K-Mart at 12:45, $1.00 fare, and rode the hour to Mojave, a very decrepit looking town smack in the middle of the flat desert and adjacent to Edwards Air Force Base. An hour later, after mailing some cards we were on the bus up 395 toward Bishop. We arranged for the driver to drop us at the road intersection of 395 and 9 Mile Canyon Rd which leads to Kennedy Meadows. As he stopped the bus to let us off we could hear the other riders gasping in amazement that we were willing and wanting to get off the bus in the middle of the 93° desert with the intent of hitch hiking 25 miles up to Kennedy Meadow. One vocal woman near the door said, "That's a decision they are going to regret!"

We positioned ourselves on the corner and prepared to hitch hike. Hundreds of cars roared up and down 395, but none made the turn to Kennedy Meadows. After an hour a truck and car made the turn. They saw our outstretched thumbs and packs and stopped to pick us up. Pretty good odds, one car and one ride!

I rode in the truck with a science camp teacher out hiking for the weekend and Sally rode with his wife in the following car. We discussed science topics all the way up to the meadows where he dropped us off at the Kennedy Meadows Store. Immediately, we recognized Arctic and Sunbeam, two of the sweetest kids on the PCT. Arctic has the kindest eyes we have ever seen and the actions to match them. Sunbeam does not have a sour bone in her body and exudes warmth, joy and friendliness. Arctic gave us the quick tour and outline of how the place works and Sunbeam caught us up on her adventures since we last saw her a month ago.

The area around the store is awash with PCT hikers, old dilapidated travel trailers, junk chairs, fallen trees and random haphazard outbuildings long past their useful life. We found a place for our tent amount the refuse and kids and then moved to the large deck attached to the store to catch up with hikers we had not seen for a long time and buy some goodies in the store. Eventually, we returned to camp to cook dinner and settle in for the night.

It was great to be at 6000', surrounded by Piñon Pines and cool air knowing the Sierra Mountains were only 40 trail miles away.

Tomorrow we hope to retrieve the packages Wendy, Sally's sister and marvelous personal trail angel to Sally and I had sent to the store a week earlier. Five packages, including two boxes of food and gear, a boxed up ice axe and two bear cans are waiting inside the store, or so we hope. We plan to hike out Of Kennedy Meadows Sunday morning, taking nine days to reach Kearsarge Pass where we will exit to gather a resupply in the tiny town of Independence. It is doubtful we will have cell service until we reach Independence, so although I will continue to write, they reports will not make the blog until I am able to upload them. I thought I would be voiceless here at Kennedy, but a trail angel has set up a Satellite Internet Service for PCT hikers, the only connection to the outside world other than a road and a pay phone.

Our transit from desert to mountains across the face of the earth was successful and we are poised to move forward into some new and some familiar territories.