We triple zeroed in Bend. It was awesome. Quickly: we drove to Portland, chilled with Sue and her Hubby, Tim. Resupplied, drove back to Bend, ate great food at a friend's house, slept late in a house we had all to ourselves, ate a ton of ice cream, watched a movie with my feet in the air and ate more ice cream. However, there is only one story that matters from the entire time off trail.
Animal is in Bend for less than 20 minutes when a girl approaches him while he’s sitting at a coffee shop and asks if he’s hiking the trail. Why of course he’s hiking the trail! They chat for a few minutes, but this girl has to go to work at Ben and Jerry’s, but invites him to swing by later for a free scoop.
MMMHMMMM.
So, Animal meets us at REI, fills us in, and then goes for ice cream. We pick him up 20 minutes later and with a smile from ear to ear, he reports that he has a date tomorrow afternoon! What!?
We must know everything about this girl, right now. Animal has been wearing the same clothes for what looks like his entire 23 years on this earth, and they are holey, stained, smelly and generally disgusting. Back to REI for a new outfit!
Hawkeye and I picked out some clothes for him and had fun critiquing the different outfits. I took a picture of each one and sent it out on our massive group text to get feedback. We settled on a slim fitting reddish button down and new hiking pants for him.
This chick picked up Animal from the house we were staying in for their date, and when he returned he had the largest smile on his face. “It went well.” He was incredibly appreciative of the group's helps to get him properly clothed and “looking smart” (a Hawkeye term).
Animal is injured and was planning to go home to the Bay Area for a couple weeks to heal up, but now he’s gonna stay in Bend and take it one day at a time. Or as Hawkeye quickly corrected him, “one date at a time.”
All of Slow Magic is acting like annoying siblings and wanting all the details while simultaneously giving him a hard time. I will update you all on the second date, but Animal is a smitten little kitten over this one!
[Dinner with Tim and Sue, helping The Mayor get to the trailhead, you know... the bike collection of a pro racer, View from the deck, Animal outfits one thru four!]
