Chuck's News: Day 51 - Tuesday, June 14, 2022 - 0.0 miles - 9,822 steps - Zero Day in Salida- Vert Up - 0’ - Vert Dwn - 0’ - Total Miles to Date

Another zero that’s not a zero. Slept in to 8:30am, although not really. Lay in bed until 8:30am, awake at 6:30am and stayed in bed reading emails and writing in my blog.

Got up and made scrambled eggs with spinach (someone had left a whole bag of fresh spinach in the community fridge) onion and cheese, then filled two taco shells with the scramble for breakfast burritos. So good.

I never did take a shower yesterday so I headed to the funky outdoor shower and cleaned up. I looked at my nude body in the mirror. Maybe I have lost a little weight. Maybe?

I organized my gear and my day. Took everything out of my pack so I could use it as a bike bag, then loaded my Asolo boots, the two pairs of socks I use with them, the gaiters, and a pair of fleece glove into the postage box my new shoes had come in and put that in my pack. I also deflated my inflatable matt I sleep on and put it in my pack. I’m mailing it to my next trail town, Twin Lakes, Colorado. I will do this next leg with only my zpad and see how I like it. If it works out okay, I will forward my inflatable home to Andy. If not, I’ll mail the Zpad home to Andy and keep the inflatable.

The ride to town is slightly downhill and has a following wind. It is about 3ish miles. Stopped at Safeway first since it was on the way and bought cheese, hard salami, Snickers bars and some tuna packs for the trail and a case of LeCroix for the hostel. Next, off to the post office. This took me through the center of downtown. This is a really cute and vibrant town!

At the post office I boxed and mailed my two packages, then popped open a LeCroix to drink and headed back to town. They block off two street sections for the summer for pedestrian use. As I turned down one of these I heard someone call my name. It was Monk, sitting at an outside table having a beer. I joined him, had a Diet Coke and sat with him for about 45 minutes while he ate his hamburger.

I rode around town a little more, watching them set up in the park for their version of “Cheese Days”. There’s is a little more grand. They have an international river kayaking competition, a massive bike race and much more.

Now I started back to the hostel. The wind is blowing a steady 20 mph. It is slightly uphill. It took a while, but I made it back. New guests from the trail were coming in. Our population of five swelled to 14 with new arrivals. One I knew, Nurse. Also, there was Deadbolt, a 20sometjing girl that somehow got locked in the woman’s bathroom in Costco in Grants, NM. They had to remove the door to get her out, hence Deadbolt. The rest moved around so fast, mostly 20 something guys that I couldn’t remember names nor what faces they belonged to.

I took another shower, just cause I could. Long and hot. I asked Cope about what techniques would up our chances of a hitch. He offered to drive us up to the highway to better our chances. I asked who was going up tomorrow and got positive responses from Just Mary, Onion, Monk and myself. I reported my number to Cope and said great, but then suggested we try the trail angels listed on the fridge. Good idea. I texted Debbie Downey and she said great for 9:00 am in the morning. Very one was agreed.

Monk came back on bike from his shopping trip having had a new screen put In his iPhone, had lunch and shopped at Walmart for his resupply. He brought a pizza for us to share. We topped it with spinach and onions good stuff.

Most of the group went to town for the nightlife leaving only Monk, Special K and I. We discussed books and politics. A nice evening.

Andy and Sally called. Sally and my phones share the same account. Sometimes this can be annoying. She has been seeing every text I send, sometimes we cannot text each other, if she gets a FaceTime call I get it to and so on. Andy was calling to say he was separating our accounts and giving Sally her own.

The party people returned from town about ten. I was worried that the party might continue at the hostel affording little sleep, but everyone laid their mattresses and sleeping bags out on the garage floor and went to bed. It was a quiet night. No one even snored.

And so, another non-zero-zero came to a close. Restful? More so than hiking but not exactly void of physical activity. Still, I’ll see how I feel on the trail tomorrow.