Start: 0700 - South Lake Tahoe (Motel 6)
End: 2100 - South Lake Tahoe (Jennifer and Daniel's house)
Miles (today): 1 off
Miles (cumulative): 1128 (982 PCT, 91.5 alternate, 54.5 off)
It's amazing and wonderful and completely crazy how many trail angels there are in the world.
Nick and I both wanted to sleep in but apparently waking up at 0600 every day has ruined us for such luxuries. Also, apparently my body really needs a rest day because everything hurt this morning - even walking to the bathroom took effort. Tender feet, twingy IT bands, tight calf muscle... Wow. I'm guessing I feel this way every morning but just don't bother to notice.
Nick walked to the local outfitter (Lake of the Sky) to pick up our resupply package while I sent Theresa some blog updates (I have over twenty to get to her, I can't believe it's been that long since we've been connected to the real world.)
While at the outfitter, Nick ran into Tank. Tank told us we could stay at the campground with them tonight and he even offered to take us back to the trail on Sunday. I'm still not sure I want to take two zero days but I think it might be necessary... We'll see.
After checkout (weekend hotel prices in South Lake Tahoe are insane so staying at the Motel 6 a second night was out of the question), we returned to the grocery store across the street to supplement our resupply (we're eating so much food!). While at the store we bumped into a really nice lady who wished us luck in our hike - she hiked the trail last year (and she knew we were hikers since we had our packs on, those packs make it pretty obvious.)
After the grocery store we walked to the "Y", an area where the roads in South Lake Tahoe intersect and where a lot of restaurants and businesses are (and it's on the way to the Tahoe Valley Campground). We stopped at Starbucks to use the wifi (not surprisingly, the wifi at Motel 6 wasn't the best). I sent out a few more blog posts, paid some bills, and reinstated the insurance on my car so family can drive it when they need to; Nick worked on updating the PCT planner with a new schedule. Since we definitely aren't going to finish before mid-September, Nick decided to fly back to Illinois in August to make up his July, August, and September drills. I don't know what I'm going to do with my time while Nick is in Illinois, but I'm sure I'll figure something out (who wants to spend time with me in Oregon?) While I don't like the thought of 'getting behind', I am very happy to not have the mid-September deadline looming over the hike. Our new target finish date is October 7-ish.
Around 1600, Nick and I decided to get some pizza. Trip Advisor recommended the Lake Tahoe Pizza Company, which was just down the road across from the campground where we planned to spend the night. Perfect.
The pizza was great and so was the salad bar (I made quite a few trips to that salad bar). Just as we were about to leave, some people came up to our table (we were sitting at a 6 person high-top in the bar) and asked if they could sit with us (the restaurant was getting pretty busy by this time - we forgot it's Friday). Of course! The more the merrier! We were just about to leave, anyway!
the pizza - half veggie, half meat
Jennifer, Daniel, and Gayle turned out to be the nicest people! We chatted with them for a while while they waited for their food; when Nick and I finally got up to leave, Daniel asked if there was anything they could do for us. I couldn't think of anything until Jennifer asked, "Do you need a place to stay tonight? We have a guest room you could use." Usually I would say thank you but it's not necessary (I hate feeling like I'm putting people out), but the thought of getting to sleep in a legit bed again was just too appealing. Why pitch our tent at the crowded campground and sleep on the ground when we can stay at a nice house with nice people?
So we sat back down and continued to chat with them while they finished their meal. When they were finished (Nick and I ate their last two pieces of pizza - it was fantastic), we loaded up in their car and they took us to their quaint neighborhood about 10 minutes away. Jennifer and Daniel's house is beautiful and their guest room is extremely comfortable. They even have pets - a dog, Chloe, and two cats, June Bug and Kitty Ray (who make me miss Charlie).
Jennifer gave me some Traumeel ointment for my leg, Daniel made me tea, Nick had a beer, and we all enjoyed the evening on their back porch. Now Nick is watching the Big Short with them and I'm going to use their foam roller to work out the kinks this long-distance event has created. Then I'm going to crash - hard - on this amazingly comfortable guest bed.
Jennifer, Daniel, and Gayle - South Lake Tahoe locals and PCT trail angels