May 4th - 8th
Miles: Picked up at 308, driven to 369
Morale: Rollercoaster
"Get rich or die tryin' - in life experience." -Fabio
As luck would have it, the local orthopaedic specialist had a cancellation, and Adam was able to sneak in. We were informed that he has an overuse injury - his IT band is inflamed and apparently really effing angry.
Margaret and Michael sweetly drove us to the next town on the PCT - Wrightwood - where we expected to meet up with our group who would be trailing in over the weekend. We spent the first day holed up in our motel, eating pizza and watching hours of Kimmy Schmidt.
The following day, we were joined by Jetpack, and the three of us stayed with a trail angel, Don, a chef from New York who is currently acting as the live-in steward of his late brother's cabin and commuting to LA for work while the family makes a plan. His East Coast directness was refreshing, not to mention he cooked delicious food for us, served on silver platters, and we later enjoyed tea from a teapot, served in adorable ceramic cups by the fire. In the morning, we woke up to coffee and some solid advice written in a note; Don allowed us to let ourselves out at our leisure.
Last night we shared a cabin with the whole crew, who bravely made it to Wrightwood - a 120 mile stretch!
[Frozen yogurt to celebrate the doctors visit, Big Top- the friendly cat at Don the Trail Angel's house, Morning spread left out by Don for us:]
Today is Mother's Day, and while our moms have always supported us in whatever adventures we took on, the past year of life changes and preparations has meant unraveling the adult life we had started to build and led us to ask even more of our mothers and families, and without wincing, they have been there for us. When we moved to Texas, my mom didn't hesitate to allow our kitties to move in with her, knowing we wouldn't have stable housing - and wowza we did not. We lived with roommates in three different living arrangements - ranging from a co-op with 19 adults to a house with a pool in the suburbs that was home to at least 4 other adult misfits. At that time, Margaret and Michael drove a car down from Ohio to lend us a second set of wheels for an entire year. I don't know how we would have made Houston work without this support.
More recently, we moved back in with my mom for the month prior to commencing the hike. My mom, stepdad, and grandparents, generously allowed us to store ALL of our earthly belongings in their shed and take over their living space in order to prepare all of our food and gear for the PCT. Now, my mom (in the midst of campaigning for Bernie Sanders, working full-time, planning her own travels, and attending the 2-week long Cleveland Film Festival) follows our tedious directions regarding what to mail us each week in order to keep us going. This is a very important role because she is sending us our food and supplies at each stop that we absolutely depend on. As my mother's daughter, I know that this sort of tedious, detail-oriented task is not exactly her life's passion, but not once has she ever implied that she wasn't more than happy to do it. She doesn't even expect a thank you.
This past week, Margaret and Michael arrived back in the U.S. after nine months of international travel. They were exhausted and weary. Regardless of the 16 hour time difference, they landed in LA and immediately came to find us on the trail. They then spent days showing interest in our travels, concern for our aches and pains, and not to mention, they cooked all day for us every day. After dropping us (and everyone else) off at the trailhead, hours away from where they were staying, we simply called them back up a few days later, and they managed to coordinate a heroic rescue of us in the middle of the desert. No questions asked, they got Adam the help he needed, and then just a day later, they drove us several hours back to the PCT. They offered many times to change their plans if we needed them.
And now on Mother's Day we are away from home (as we have been for the past four years), and I'm feeling gratitude for the loving families we were both raised in. A little homesick, we are returning to the trail this afternoon. We are only planning to walk 5 miles to see how Adam's knee feels, and we want to send a huge hug to our moms who have helped us be here today and have the privilege of being totally free to walk the PCT.
[Sewed some purple patches on my shorts while watching TV, crammed in to a small room while waiting for our place- good people!, Fey improving the sunset with her face]
