Chris and I got a ride from our dear friends Jordan Johnson and co-pilot Dan 'The Man' O'Hern from McKinleyville to Redding at 10:30 Wednesday evening. It's now 1:30 AM Friday morning, Chris, Ryan, and myself are on a bus in Anaheim heading to San Diego. We caught the Coast Starlight Amtrak train in Redding at 4:30 AM on Thursday. Ryan had already been on the train for twelve hours from Portland. The ride South was pretty relaxing, we went over our gear and enjoyed the fine cuisine in the dining car. We were also rejoicing over a bag of two dozen cookies that Maria McGoldrick made for us, however, a mystery caper stole them halfway through the trip. We walked the whole train, hoping to catch the culprit red handed, but to no avail. The train conductor had swiped one earlier in the afternoon, and paid her compliments to the baker. I suspect that, with the taste of peanut buttery goodness still reverberating on her tongue, she couldn't resist the impulse to abuse her authority and steal the rest of the cookies.
Shameful. When my body wastes away in a ditch on the side of the trail two weeks from now I will blame her selfishness for my demise.
We rallied from this setback. Our train was a little part of history when it rerouted away from the coast after San Francisco Bay and headed down to Bakersfield, and then up and over Tehachapi pass and it's famous Loop. It had been years since a passenger train had gone this way. We crossed over the PCT three times on Thursday. We'll reach Campo, and the trailhead, tomorrow afternoon.
The planning, supplying, and talking is over. The journey begins.
-Arny
No comments:
Post a Comment