Miles: Zero
Nature calls early in the morning and it is the first time I have left my tent in the middle of the night.
The dark sky is lit with stars, just like someone brought Bob Ross just to go to the bathroom at 3:00 a.m. Absolutely beautiful.
I blow some air on my mat. I’m not sure what I’m doing, but this sleeping pad definitely deflated while I was sleeping.
The sun is shining brightly now. I just woke up and rolled over like a roast chicken, trying to get back to sleep (thankfully my mat was still firm).
I join a chaotic FaceTime call with my mom (Happy Mother’s Day!), in which the kids decided to take out all their dresser drawers and lay them out on the floor like a rug, my brother delivers flowers to my mom, my little nephew is in the shower after a messy pull-up, and my niece shows me her new stickers before trying to chase the kitten to «groom» it.
We pack our bags and cross the street to hitchhike. It’s taking us longer than I expected. After watching a couple of successful hikers catch a ride, we approached their spot. There are already hikers ahead of us, so when the next friendly driver comes to pick up the hikers, we tell the people there to get on first. Denis joins them.
Thumbs up, smile and say hello. Most of the cars turned left when we needed them to go straight toward Idyllwild.
After waiting about twenty minutes outside in the sun, a driver pulls up. It can only take us about ten or fifteen minutes, which puts us a few kilometers from the city.
Rudolph is a kind, middle-aged man who grew up in Hawaii. He’s a chatty guy who drives his wife’s car and we’re grateful for the ride after the moments of patiently waiting for a car.
They drop us off at a cafe and Dad and Rafiki pause to chat with an older couple. I spend a little time with my thumbs up. Only when they finish their conversation and we are standing for a few minutes, a young man grabs us. When he opens his trunk, Dad immediately knows he’s an ultrarunner. This guy’s car is full of equipment! We packed our bags and got into the car, trying to avoid stepping on any of their equipment. Our driver is really intrigued by the PCT, so Dad points him out to places relevant to a runner. This guy is even on his way to a long run today!
When they leave us, Dad shouts «Thomas!»
I didn’t even recognize him! He finishes his conversation with the people across the street before walking towards us with a punch.
We all grabbed a table at The Red Kettle. Dad drops his bag off at the Idyllwild Inn, where we’ll be staying.
Once our table is ready, we order coffees (Rafiki received chocolate milk) and some food. Denis joins us here, and later, the Dutch gentleman from Mom’s Pie joins us too!
«Hello, Thomas,» I say quietly, «My dad and Rafiki have asked me why I haven’t spoken French with you yet. Would you like to practice a little?»
«Oh yes! I’ll help you with French!» he says enthusiastically. Thomas is a pretty expressive person in general. Being surrounded by people who speak your language is quite exciting. For me, it’s all about French, since, after all, I have a fairly extensive (albeit rusty) education in the language.
After a couple of hard days, being around a table full of hikers is really nice. It feels so rewarding, special.
We left our bags at our inn, which is actually a small cabin about thirty meters from the Idyllwild Inn office. Our host is an older lady with a «mom» air, who calls you «honey» and «sweet girl.» She’s blonde and has bright eyeshadow and is incredibly useful.
We move on to a store called Nomad Ventures, where Lynne helps me find a pair of shoes by walking me through about eight pairs of shoes; Crazy, I know. But I end up buying some after all! Dad and I also bought new gas cans.
Lisa, our helpful host, gave me a card to contact the trail angels. Grumpy is his name. I call and ask for help with transportation and for someone to send me a box; It’s Sunday.
Not my strongest conversation, I know, but I was trying to walk to the store and get information at the same time.
«I don’t do that anymore,» Grumpy says gruffly. «Did you look for the website at the bottom of the card?»
Pressed into the bottom of the card, under my thumb, is a website.
«Talk to the girls. They’re more helpful,» Grumpy says.
I turn the card over and see a photo of a grumpy dwarf from Snow White on the back.
Excellent. How am I going to send this tomorrow? Surely we can’t leave town at 9:30 am just to ship a box. Good?
Time to go shopping. This is a place where I feel absolutely lost. I’m absolutely stressed. They don’t really have much of what I want, so I end up wandering around the islands endlessly until I finally settle on some not-so-attractive protein bars. I think I may be peanut intolerant, but I hope these bars treat me well.
Now back at the cabin, which includes dad, me, Rafiki, Denis and a last minute addition: Thomas.
Even though Dad told me it’s no big deal, I’m still stressed about the fact that I need to send a box home. I don’t want to carry anything extra, but I don’t want to donate my stuff either.
I search the website for Grumpy’s help and scroll endlessly until I find follow-up angels. I choose Rochelle, a woman who is available most days. She responds immediately and I explain my situation, a little more tactfully than with Grumpy.
«Let me call you in just three or four minutes. I’m helping a client,» he says. Rochelle seems like the type of woman who is fast, efficient and knows how to get a job done.
Not five minutes pass and she calls. We arranged a trip for 7:00 am, where I had to find places to have breakfast before the call, and then inquired about shipping my box.
“Do you know who could help here?” asked.
«You’re talking to her,» Rochelle says.
I almost fell to my knees in relief. Thank God! I text him the details and go on with my day. After setting up my meal, I blog for a bit before heading back to Nomad Ventures to buy a pair of sunglasses.
I meet Cecile, one of the hikers from our first day. The lady working at the store is excited to talk to Thomas about a trail in his area that he loved!
I muster up the courage to speak French to Thomas. It’s basic, it’s rusty, but it’s there. I’m so embarrassed to speak French in front of an audience!
We return to the cabin and I show Rafiki my new glasses.
«Have you spoken French with Thomas yet?» he asks out loud.
«I did it, thank you very much!» say.
“Yes, we speak French,” Thomas seconded.
I’m glad I conversed in French with him when I did.
Something I was looking forward to finally came true: I know it’s strange, but it’s also instant gratification.
Rafiki shaved his legs.
Body hair does not hold sunscreen well and retains dirt. Rafiki spent almost two hours trying to handle this, his only tools: four razors and some shaving cream. I gave him some tips for shaving his legs, which he broke the rules and almost fell in the shower, but now his legs are completely smooth.
After chatting with Magra, I finish up yesterday’s blog post and we head to dinner at the Idyllwild Brew Pub. Dad and I share a salad and a pulled pork sandwich.
We stand looking at the trees, which remind me of South Lake Tahoe both in sight and smell, and soon return to the inn to pack as much as we can and go to bed before tomorrow.
«Good night!» to my faithful readers. I’m pretty exhausted, but excited for the adventure that awaits me tomorrow.
