Monday, June 15, 2015

Day 61 - South Lake Tahoe

Monday June 15

A "town day" for hikers means "town food". Today, Willy and I were headed to South Lake Tahoe. We needed to get supplies for the next 105 miles of hiking. Plus, we were going to take an extra day for rest. 

Although we were going to "sleep in" an extra hour before hitting the trail, we ended up sleeping only a half hour longer before getting onto the trail. It was just 9 miles to the highway. By 8:30 we could see the lake in the distance.



At highway 50, Willy didn't have phone service; I had marginal service. We were unable to call for a ride. However, when Willy was walking by the highway, a trail angel (Mel) was driving by, saw Willy, and offered us a ride to town! In addition, our friend, "Thermometer", the fellow from Korea, was also in the car!

We stopped at the local outfitters for some supplies and then got a room at the Apex Inn, which was just up the street.



We then had a big breakfast at Bert's Cafe. Nothing tastes better than town food after four days on the trail! 

Willy offered to do our laundry while I showered. I then mailed my bear canister home, since it is no longer required. Also, it weighs almost two pounds, so it is weight I won't have to carry any more. 

At 4, two of Willy's sisters arrived, Carmen and Alice, along with Larry, Carmen's husband.



We went for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe at Harvey's Casino. We had a great meal and amazing dessert! Everyone was interested in our adventure and lots of stories were shared. 

I really like everyone in Willy's family. We plan to have breakfast together tomorrow and they offered to take me to a shoe store as well. I thought my shoes would last 800 miles, but the Sierra granite and volcanic rock have already worn holes in my shoes. 

I just love town days like this!

7 comments:

  1. It's really great to hear from you again, Dad! I'm glad that you're feeling better, it sounds like you had a rough section of the trail that took a toll on you. I hope you're able to keep your mojo as you progress. It is amazing how far that you've already made it during these last couple of months--you're doing an amazing job! Enjoy the extra rest...hopefully you consider taking even more rest if you think your body needs it! Love you!

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  2. Precious few of those cloudy days or any rain in the last month or so! Summer is really early this year. We've had lots of 80+ days. The front lawn is already crunchy! Dressing in wet clothes sounds awful. Glad you survived it! Love ya, Valorie

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  3. It's terrible to hear that you were feeling bad. I'm so glad that trail magic appeared just when you most needed it! Love ya, Valorie

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  4. Yay, Bobby got his mojo back! \o/

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  5. Great to hear that you have the shoe problem half-solved. Now, hopefully the shoe store has something suitable. Love ya, Valorie

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  6. Hang in there Bob. You're logging lots of miles without much time to let your muscles recover. Working muscles hard can make them stronger, but only if they have a chance to recover. Without recovery time, you'll just wear yourself down. So if you're really feeling rundown and worn out, it's just your body saying it might be time to take a day off, not necessarily time to hang it up. The body part is relatively easy to figure out, and deal with. The mental part can be much harder to overcome, but after all those Boeing years I have total faith in your mental toughness.

    Enjoy

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  7. I met Thermometer around mile 550 on my sobo section hike in May. He served me up some fancy Korean coffee. Mmmm!
    -GoalTech

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