PCT SOBO DAY 78 – Mammoth Lakes
30th September 2016
0 miles
Well, I slept really badly. I just put it down to being in town and being wired. I couldn't seem to get comfortable, my pillow was hard and the bed felt hard. It wasn't a blow up mattress though.
So I stared up into the dark for a while and I eventually decided to take an Aleve PM and I felt my body go to sleep while my brain was still active. That was weird. But of course I eventually nodded off.
We went down for breakfast, looking a bit of a mess. I woke up looking more like Crusty the Clown than ever before, the shampoo at the hotel was terrible and my hair was just a sticky mess. I tied it up and carried on.I dressed in my new long legs that I haven't actually worn properly yet. They are quite jazzy! And my puffy. It was too hot for my puffy. But there were a whole bunch of Japanese tourists at the hotel so we blended in pretty well. We had breakfast and I met Catwaters sister Annie. We put out laundry on and went to a coffee place to meet Noreen and their other friend Joan. I had a hot chocolate which just tasted like cinnamon. Gross.
The sun was intense and I was burning up inside my puffy, I just wanted to rip it off but being naked underneath that wasn't a great idea. So I went back to check on the laundry before I self combusted.
I put the stuff in the dryer, except for my wool sleep clothes. I put the top on wet and walked to the post office. It felt so good to be cool. And by the time I got to the post office the top was dry. I collected my package and my replacement washers for my sawyer filter and headed back to the hotel to unwrap my goodies. A great care package sent from my friend Sharon and I nailed the chocolate viennese whirls straight away.
Catwater and I made a plan for the next few sections and when we couldn't put it off anymore, and our laundry was dry, we went to the supermarket to buy resupply. I was buying for a 5 day and a 7 day section to mail forward. I will think about the coming section tomorrow. I took my empty rucksack with me and went about wondering the aisles for inspiration. I didn't get any so I ended up just buying the same old stuff. But I did find huge bags of sour patch kids. I had them and a zillion twix bars on the top of my trolley and a teenage boy walked by and exclaimed 'oh my god' as he looked into my trolley. Yep. This is what being an adult is all about.
I had Catwaters club card because a lot of the things are on offer with the card but as I was stuffing all my food into my rucksack the cashier told me he had scanned the complimentary card. I must look like I'm not from around here! Well thank you young man, you saved me $26.
As I was leaving the store I hear 'Puff Puff!'. It's Concierge (Will, the very first person I saw on the trail this year) who is now off the trail due to some foot problems and he is doing some trail angeling and some trail magic for hikers still on the trail. He had Whiskey Nikki with him who he was giving a ride back to the trail. I told them to come and join us for lunch at Robertos, the Mexican restaurant.
So I meet Catwater at the restaurant and I am overwhelmed by the menu. Too much choice. I decide on a fish burrito, purely because it had a fish called a Wahoo in it which I wouldn't accept was a made up fish until I googled it. It's real apparently and it's called a Wahoo. Ridiculous. (But very tasty).
Concierge and Whiskey Nikki joined us and I learnt that Concierge had tried to find me at Sonora Pass but he got stuck in traffic and missed me by only a few minutes. It was really nice to have lunch and talk to other hikers. I didn't think I would be able to eat all my food but it gave me no problem. We had to leave because Catwater had an appointment to have her infected toe looked at and I had to get to the post office before it closed.
I set about the task of de-packaging everything and putting things in ziplocks. I shoved it all back in my rucksack and headed back to the post office. There were only a couple of people in there so I grabbed some boxes and sat on the floor in the corner to package up my food. When I turned around the queue was out of the door! Tip: do not go to Mammoth post office half an hour before closing. I try to find a pen. There is only one person serving and I don't want to cut in line, nor do I want to queue to ask for a pen. It was so hot in there and I was getting flustered. In the end I just went and looked at the counters and reached over to grab a pen. That was when I heard 'Puff Puff?' It's so odd to hear your name being called out in a random town in America. It was Joan, as she was chatting to me I saw the woman behind her had some tape in her hand. I said loudly to Joan 'I need some tape, do you think they will have some I can use?' The plan worked and the lady loaned me her tape. Result. By now the queue was way out the door and I joined the back. Joan sensibly went home to come back another time. I eventually got all my stuff sent and went to leave, I was locked in! It was passed 4 so they had closed the doors to stop people coming in, so I now had to queue to leave the post office!
I stopped in the hardware store on the way back. I had an idea of how to do a temporary fix on my tent. I wanted a bolt I could push down the pole and I found what I was looking for but it was too long so I found someone to help me. Edward William Worthington Waymeyer The Third, aged 82, helped me by cutting it in half and in the workshop in the back we managed eventually to add a bolt to the top. I took my tent poles to the counter and pointed out the bits I needed to pay for. $1.59. If this works I will be really pleased with myself.
Back at the hotel I set up my tent in the room. It worked-ish. Not perfect but definitely better than it was. Hopefully it will last me until the next stop where I can get a new tent delivered.
A knock on the door saw Amilio stood outside asking us if everything was OK with the beds. I said yeah I think everything is fine, until Catwater said she slept really badly and said the bed was really uncomfortable. Yeah, the bed was uncomfortable. So she went to find Amilio to put him straight. He said the room wasn't supposed to be sold, because of the crappy beds, so he would arrange for us to move rooms. Cool.
We packed up and moved and then went out for dinner with Annie and Joan. I shared a pizza with Joan but only managed a shameful 2 slices, so I have the rest for breakfast!
Tomorrow Catwater is off to a beer festival with her sister and her friends. I plan to do absolutely nothing and I can't wait.
