June 1: Still Willin'

The first day of June. Nearly summer already, almost halfway through the year. A drop in the bucket. I think about so much each day, make so many plans, think long and slow about the things I've done in my life, about how I feel as a result. I think about the time being spent on the trail and how it may be changing me. The walking has turned out to be manageable, comfortable even. It all feels natural enough, like there never was a beginning, like it's end is too far off to even begin to come close to and contemplate. This endless walk is becoming more and more surreal by the day, more and more a walking dream. I guess in some ways it is a great big vacation. No bosses to answer to, no rules to speak of, outside the normal societal checks and balances. No worries much greater than simply staying healthy, eating well (which is not as easy a thing as one would like)...

We hitched into and back out of Tehachapi today. In town we did the standard town drill: took care of our re-supply, hit the PO, where we picked up a care package from my mother, which was a great treat (thanks Mom! those feeze dried veggies are great!). I dropped off my cell phone at a Verizon dealer who agreed to charge it for me while we ran other errands. We were even able to get showered at the Best Western where some other hikers were spending the night and were kind enough to let us in to clean up for a half an hour.

These town stops, for all they're worth, are really relatively stressful experiences. We seem to have a knack at finding our way into the Big K and losing touch entirely with the reality we had been enjoying for the past month on the trail. Out of nowhere, Eliza and I can't communicate, our packs are knocking into the shelves, the parking lot out front somehow transmorgrifies into an impassable barrier of heat and sound, a force field patrolled by battalions of fast travelling SUVs and pickup trucks. Before we fell into this trap again today (we eventually did, unfortunately) we had the good fortune to sit and eat breakfast at the Denny's across from the Post Office with a couple of hikers from Arizona who are in their mid 60s, Squirrel and Ruquito. This was a really nice time, the high point of the day in town by far. They had met only five years ago on a kayaking trip and seemed still to be tickled by their good luck in life to have found another companion so late in the game. We all drank hot coffee and tea, and sat for some time. With evening things improved as we hitched back out to the Willow Springs Rd and walked on another 7 miles before camping just south of highway 58, once again beneath the thunder and groan of the spinning turbines overhead on the hilltops.