Potpourri - Thursday, May 1

Sometimes a day's events are so varied it is difficult to find a central theme. If a day is spent packaging food a theme about preparation can be developed. Or traveling to a destination. Or framing walls and standing them up. But today was not one of those days. Today our activities were varied with no coherent theme.

I had purchased a new pack at REI last Sunday, but on our overnight foray Monday and Tuesday discovered it was too big. The waist belt hung about 1 1/2" too low. If I cinched it up to take the load off my shoulder then it was difficult to walk or it restricted blood flow to my legs. It was a medium, same as my previous pack, but it obviously did not fit. So, with Sally's foot and ankle still convalescing, we decided to return the pack to REI and get a small. This entails an hour and a half drive east to REI in Rancho Cucamonga from Palm Springs. On the way we pass Ziggy and the Bear, a trail angel home set up specifically for PCT hikers. The trail comes within a quarter mile of the house so everyone hiking the PCT stops in . . . except us because we did not hike that four mile section of trail. So we decided to stop in after our trip to REI.

Exchanging the pack for a small went without a hitch. On the drive back we pulled off the freeway and found Ziggy and the Bear's home. As we drove up I mentioned to Sally that we would not know anyone here because all our group members were farther up the trail. Sally said the Mike and Amanda might be here. Just as she said that we saw Mike standing outside the house as we pulled in.
We greeted Mike and Amanda and introduced ourselves to the man in charge. At first he was confused because we were too clean and didn't smell bad enough to be thru hikers. When we explained our circumstances he was more accepting. Funny. On the PCT you are not accepted if you aren't filthy and stink.
Someone at Ziggy and the Bear needed a ride to Palm Desert, so we gladly consented to transport "Legend". However, we wanted to checkout a trailhead to get us back on the PCT when Sally's ankle healed so we made a side trip up the gravel Mission Creek Preserve road to see if we could save a few miles of hiking. It turned out to be a good road. We dropped Legend in Palm Desert, then swung by to pick up Sue from her tutoring job, only a minute or two after our 2:00pm scheduled pickup.
We arrived back at Sue and Bill's in the early afternoon, so we hopped into Bill's snazzy golf cart and headed to the pool for a swim. Back to the house for stir fry cooked by Bill, then he and I went to play Thursday night shuffleboard. This is highly competitive shuffleboard and I was a little nervous but Bill coached me well on how to play, so well that I beat him in the first game. I lost to a retired businessman from Seattle in the second game. Back to the house for brownie and ice cream desert and our day of many activities came to a close.