The big ketchup

What a crazy ride/adventure this trip has been. Things have gone right more often than not, but we've been lucky enough to have some people in our corner when poopoo hits the fan, because it always does.
We walked 300+ miles through desert and scrubby bushes with little water at times, testing our strength and resolve to do this. I cried a lot during those first few weeks. I was exhausted, physically and mentally. The vistas were phenomenal, but not without hard work to get there. We walked through the San Jacinto and San Bernadine mountain ranges and the respective passes in under a month. We had lofty goals of working our way to 20 mile days and being strong. In reality, we killed our feet and pushed ourselves a little too hard too quickly.
Because of our sore and swollen feet, once we got picked up at the predetermined McDonald's by our friend, Jim, we needed to take time off of the trail. Since we had stashed our car there, it was fairly easy to escape the trail for a few weeks. We stayed a week with Jim and Amanda and their two pups, Tumi and Dolce before taking off for a road trip. We left on a Sunday morning and zigzaged our way to the coast and the Pacific Coast Highway (or 'the 1').
We had a list of things to do on our trip: drive 'the 1' to San Fran, go to Monterey Bay Aquarium, see sea otters and sea lions along the coast, see redwood and sequoia trees, stay with another friend Chris in Santa Cruz, and acquire bicycles and ride in San Francisco critical mass. We had only one restriction for the trip: to keep it cheap while still doing what we came to do.
We drove and camped along the coast where we could. We stopped in Malibu, Pismo Beach and Big Sur, where had our first redwood experience. Then we spent a day at the fabulous Monterrey Bay Aquarium, before continuing to Santa Cruz. Along the way, my 30th birthday came and went, hardly noticeable between the aquarium and spending the weekend in San Francisco. We rode in Detroit critical mass all of the time, so riding in the city where it started on the 20 year anniversary was pretty epic. After spending a lot of time but not money in San Fran, we packed up and drove southeast to Sequoia National Park, where monster trees have lived for over 3,000 years. We camped in the park all week, backpacking and moving sites every day or two to keep seeing new places. It was here that we saw two wild bears in one day: our first on the trip. And also got our first taste of the High Sierras that are calling our names.
After hiking all around the park on some still fairly sore feet but filled with desire to resume the trek, we decided to get back to Rancho Cucamonga to our friend's house to finish healing and then get back to the trail. However, once we got back and packed and ready, some concerns kicked in. Brian was afraid that his foot was hurt worse than just sore, so we got him X-rays and doctors involved. After two days in a cast with crutches, we got good news that it was not a stress fracture, only sysmoid issues (tendons in arch). After thinking that we were going to be forced to go home with a cast and ruin our trip, we were thrilled to get the news that special inserts would help.
Also at this exact same time, our a/c went out in the vw, and of course, in a way where it interfered with driving. Brian was able to work on it and change the compressor on the a/c and get it working enough to drive and cool, in Jim's garage, with very limited tools, on a bum foot and crutches.
So we finally got the 'all clear' to proceed with the trip: we had our route and car situation ready, our feet were healing and we even had that friend from Santa Cruz lined up to walk with us for a 400 mile chunk from Mammoth Lakes to Lake Tahoe. We packed up and left last Saturday, fairly early, to take the slow road to our destination, through a ghost town and the Mojave desert. The Calico Ghost town was a neat mining town from late 19th cent to early 20th. That hot and dusty place turned out to the the highlight of the day though, since shortly after, the vw broke down. Yep, engine sputtered and stalled, then Brian pushed it onto the shoulder as semis and cars sped past on the dustiest highway that I could ever imagine. I don't know how, but we managed to do this at the only intersection with gas stations and people around. After that very spot, there is absolutely nothing for another 35 miles. On top of civilization, we had full cell phone signal to look up and call tow places. Had we gotten past that exact intersection at all, we would have had to hoof it back or camp next to the car until someone stopped. The winds were a constant 30 mph, straight from the desert: blast furnace-esq. Luckily we had a full cooler and water jug, because it was hot, almost unbearably hot for two Michigan bred people. The sun was scorching on the dash, so I was forced to put up the reflective shade so we could even sit in there and wait for the tow.
We waited for over an hour in that hot box of a car before the tow truck showed. I was totally expecting to be sitting between Brian and the driver on the little bench of an old ass tow truck. Luckily, the truck was huge (full backseat) and very clean and new. $325 and an hour later, we got to the Sears auto place across the street from the very place that we left that morning. Anyways, long story semi-short, fixing the vw ended up around $2400. It has taken respectable, professional mechanics all week to disassemble, get the head machined and reassemble.
Brian has been so funny to watch during this process of breaking down and then the subsequent towing and getting it fixed. He's so type A and all over everything, that I haven't had to worry about it. He was at the shop everyday to check on the progress, finding parts cheaper than what they quoted, chatting with the owner four times every day about what he wants done. I am sure that this poor owner, Mark, is as anxious to get rid of that little vw as we are to get it back!
Tonight we are driving to Tuolumne Meadows to meet up with Chris, our friend that's going to walk with us to Tahoe. We will be attempting our most anticipated and breathtaking (in lots of ways) section of our PCT walk over the next month. This is where the bears live and the views are stunning, the climbs are enormous and the altitude only gets higher from 8000 ft.The High Sierras, along with Yosemite, have been calling and we are finally going.