Chore Bores – The Walk

The secondary mission of the operation is underway. Last night I coordinated a trip with a trail angel to get from a remote water reservoir on a desert road to Lake Isabella. I wasn’t entirely sure it would work, but as they say, the path provides. It took everything I could not to wake up in the middle of the night with the news. Of course, the first thing I said this morning was that we were heading into town. I’m bad at keeping secrets.

At the cache we met so many friends and I discovered I had given someone a trail name! Yesterday I formally met the coffee machine and its previously anonymous partner, where we chatted about Southern California’s best neighborhoods and swapped trail recipes. Their Mac pizza puts mine to shame. He’s gotten name suggestions like barista (since he’s the one who makes the coffee for the coffee machine), chef, and things like that, but I was really proud that my suggestion stuck. The name of your trail is Cookbook!

We reconnected with Rascal and Jug who were a few minutes ahead of us at Taco Bell. Our tracking angel very kindly took us to meet them and we got the download on our side quest plan with some breakfast tacos. So the plan. Tomorrow we’ll go rafting on the Kern River! One of Rascal’s good friends is a guide and offered to take us while we were passing through. I’m so excited.

Side quests cannot be completed until we finish some tasks. We checked into the one and only Kern Motel, showered, put on our rain gear, and went to the laundry room to clean our clothes. Right next to the laundromat is Nelda’s Diner. The restaurant is a classic diner with 1,001 shake combinations. They have a full menu with clever names and combinations. While our clothes were being washed, I got some sort of peanut butter, banana, and caramel combination. Very good. The stomach ache that followed wasn’t as good, but it was worth it.

Next on the to-do list was resupply. The dollar store always surprises me with wild snacks. This time I tried World Cup themed Brazilian Garlic Dip Chips and honestly, Lay’s should consider keeping this flavor on the list. I picked up some less quirky snacks from Vons to round out my meal for the next few days.

We went to 178 Bar & Grill for dinner, drinks, and most importantly, per Rascal’s request, go to the pool. It was a quintessential small town bar with a nice back patio. I watched them fight a ruthless game and tried not to fall asleep at the table. We’re out past midnight hikers and I’m sure I’m on hiker time. I have to rest before the big rapids side quest in the morning!

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