Cherry Turnovers - Tuesday, June 10

There are few things in life as wonderful as food. Nourishing, delicious, great to share with friends or family. We all have a favorite food. Mine is a cherry turnover. Not just any cherry turnover, but one from Schat's Bakery in Bishop, CA. The problem is, we are in Independence 40 mikes away. Thankfully, there exists the Eastern Sierra Transit Service and they run a bus the length of Hwy 395. Here is the silver lining part of this story. If my foot was not causing me such pain we would have spent a night in Independence, picked up our resupply box at the Post Office and returned to the trail today. But, in search of a Podiatrist to treat my foot we must journey to Bishop, land of the cherry turnover. I guess my taste buds and stomach should thank my foot for forcing the trip to Bishop.

Strider serves her guests breakfast at 7:30, so we arose at 6:00 to get showered, packed up and ready to catch the 8:45 bus, then walked across the court to the "bunkhouse" where 5 other PCTers were also having sitdown breakfast. A lively conversation ensued over scrambled eggs, bacon, English muffins and tea. While eating I received a text from Backup. Her and Waterfall had taken the early bus to Independence and were trying to get a ride to Onion Valley to return to the trail.

We bid everyone goodbye, shouldered our packs and started walking the 1/2 mile to the bus stop. Along the way we passed by the Subway where Waterfall and Backup were making final adjustments to their gear before heading out. We talked a few minutes, but had to hustle to catch our bus.

The bus was a few minutes late, but we boarded and began the hour ride to Bishop. Seated right behind the driver was a horn rim bespeckled man in his late 50s loudly discussing with the pilot intricate details of all aspects of WWII, from fighter craft armament by model number and year to details of the politics of the era. It was amusing, and obviously they knew a lot of details.

While cruising on the bus we called the podiatrist in Bishop and only got an answering machine. It gave an emergency number, but we were not sure what constitutes a "foot" emergency. Was my condition an emergency? We decided it was not, so we would just show up at his office.

The bus was supposed to drop everyone at Kmart, but that was at the other end of town, over a mile from the Podiatrist. We asked the bus driver if he could drop us off near the office and he said of course.

We walked the two blocks to the foot doctor, and even though it was during his office hours, no one was there. I called his emergency number and again I just got an answering machine. I pleaded my case to his whirling tape machine, but got no response.

Rather than sit in the hot weather waiting we decided to walk through town to the bakery. Along the way we stopped at a used outdoor gear store and looked for a pair of pants for Sally. The pants she started the hike with were a little big now, so she needed to downsize. We didn't find anything so we continued toward the bakery.

While Sally looked I called the podiatrist in Mammoth and got an appointment for Thursday at 3pm. I was hoping for one earlier in the week, but we both agreed a day or two of total rest would be excellent.

We left our packs outside at Schat's and entered the land of earthly delights. Just walking into this place is a treat. I ordered three cherry turnovers, Sally a strawberry one and a blue berry tart. We recognized some other hikers we had met at Kennedy Meadows and chatted for a minute before eating our treats and then heading for Kmart to catch the bus to Mammoth Lakes.

We arrived at Kmart with an hour to spare so Sally went looking for a blouse while I wrote blogs. Sally returned about 45 minutes later with Sunrise in tow. What a pleasant surprise! We had a few minutes to chat before we headed for the bus stop.

The ride to Mammoth was uneventful. Upon exiting the bus we walked toward the Motel 6 we had made reservations at but along the way we passed the Base Camp Cafe. They serve an excellent chopped salad. Sally walked over to check their hours while I kept a straight course for Motel 6 trying to minimize the number of painful steps. When Sally did not return I had a suspicion as to what had happened. I walked over and looked in. Sure enough, there she stood, backpack on in the restaurant talking with some other obvious thru hikers seated before their meal.

We decided to get chopped salads before they closed at 3. It took us an hour just to get out the door after eating as we discussed thru hiking with a couple at one table and with a JMT hiker from Florida at another.

We checked into the Motel 6 and made ourselves at home, taking showers and cleaning up. One thing about a hotel room, it certainly isolates you from the rest of the world. We knew there must be a lot of PCT hikers in town, but from our room we would never know.

We ventured out about 7 to get a bite to eat and found a strong wind and thunderstorm in progress. With umbrellas for protection we walked to McDonalds for a bite, then to Rite Aid for a few goodies.

We returned to our room where I savored my last cherry turnover from Bishop. Although still in pain, there is nothing like comfort food to ease the burden.