Day 27 | mile 566.5 - 588.2
Got up and walked to the laundromat at 7. The detergent dispenser got jammed. I had to use my phone to get my box of detergent. Cost me $3.50 for everything. I even washed the puffy. Worth it.
My phone was getting no service either at the motel or downtown Tehachapi. And nobody had WiFi. It was really frustrating because a lot of town chores require connection. How am I supposed to download the new This American Life? Or call Garmin support? Or find out which store in Tehachapi sells gas canisters?
Radar joined me for breakfast next door to the laundromat. We both had breakfast burritos, but I had the wherewithal to get avocado on mine. I just stared at the tv in the restaurant. It’s so weird to watch tv after being away for a while. You can’t look away, even if something stupid is playing. (It was today show.)
We sat there while my laundry was getting finished. Radar was on the phone with google customer support because his headphone dongle got delivered to Bakersfield instead of Tehachapi. (Radar had reception because he has Verizon and he is better than me. Jk. He is on his mom’s plan.)
Laundry was done at 8:40-ish. I walked back to the hotel to get my stuff together. I just about had it with Tehachapi and wanted to get back on the trail as soon as possible. The problem was I still needed fuel and Big 5 didn’t open until 10. My plan was to try to get someone to give me a ride to Mohave which had a hardware store that opened at 9.
But, of course, it took me a while to pack and organize my food and write the blog post I didn’t write last night. Didn’t get out of the room until 10:15.
I walked to the airport because I was confused about where trail angels give rides from. Texted radar and he told me where to go. He was already there. He was mailing home one of his poles and his umbrella.
A trail angel named Rachel gave us and 2 other hikers a ride back to the trail, and even stopped at Big 5 for me. Big 5 only had the big kind of canister. Oh well.
Started hiking at 12. So much for getting out early. I called Garmin right away. After getting through and explaining the issue, we got disconnected. I waited for him to call back, but nope. Had to get on hold again. By some miracle of cellphone reception, I was able to talk to Garmin customer support for 45 minutes. (I just looked up the phone log.) Too bad it didn’t do me any good. The guy basically said that everything looks normal in his system, and he didn’t know why I or anyone else looking at my map is missing data. Cool.
This phone call took most of the 5 mile climb out of Tehachapi. Thanks for the entertainment, Edward. I was kind of hyped up on being pissed at Garmin and flew up that hill. Debriefed with Alex about what they said.
My two heel blisters were bothering me, so I took a break at mile 9. My plan to only wear liner socks was backfiring. Took my socks off, ate an apple.
Radar caught up to me then. He wanted to keep going the 8 miles to water. The trail here was not very fun. The PCT was sharing a Jeep/atv road. Bleh.
Made it to water at 5:30. There were a ton of people there. Radar was making food and snacking. I just filled up and kept going. We weren’t sure if we were going to do 5 or 10 more to the next campsite.
The sunset was beautiful and made everything glow pink. Passed a bunch of tents. Finally came up to the campsite 5 miles from water. I actually passed it and kept going, but then backtracked. I didn’t really want to keep going.
Met Baby Blanket. He seems pretty cool. He was just finishing up a pre-bedtime snack. I made Mac and cheese. Radar showed up and said, “you bailed? I was kind of hoping you would.” We were both tired after that midday climb out of Tehachapi.
Kind of a short day today. Baby Blanket riled us up to wake up at 4:30 tomorrow, bust out some miles, and hunt some people down. Excited!
Falling asleep to more wind farm noise (blehhh) and owls hooting (yay).
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