Day 46 June 3, 2008

one more thing

I mailed the blog updates from Mojave to Lake Isabella to my sister a few days ago (she should be getting them soon) and she will update when she has a chance, so the missing week is in the mail. I threw some pictures up today, so it should all go together.

Sierras.......here we come!!!

Guessing 7 days from here to Kearsarge Pass (including a day to summit Mt. Whitney...if the weather is nice) Then we'll come back up Kearsarge pass and hike north from there, but I'll try to find computer access in either Independence or Bishop around June 10th or so.

:)

Day 45 Mon June 2

The Chief's b-day! We were up early and excited to get to the famous Kennedy Meadows! We gave Chief a birthday card (one we found in the PO in Mojave.......but it's the thought that counts!!) It sang Happy birthday to him! Then we hit the trail, 5 miles to the General Store where there is laundry, showers, ice cream and all of our boxes of "stuff". We were there by 7am! Took the picture to the left on the short road walk to the store. The place was full of excited hikers! When the store opened at 9am, we picked up our ice axes, new shoes, our bear cannisters full of food for the next 7 days and some more resupply stuff we had sent. We got right to work and figured out if we had enough food, bought some more and filled the cannisters full, tried on the new shoes (montrail hardrocks, but they are owned by a different company now.......we'll see if they hold up as good as the last pairs we had) I had to go up one size due to feet swelling! We ate a pint (each) of Ben n' Jerry's and got our computer time in! Now it is 7pm (what a long day) and we just had our fill of a spaghetti dinner that the store put on for the hikers. We'll be going to bed soon, excited about tomorrow! But now I have to go back and make sure the bear cannister is going to fit in my pack! (minor details!!) Hi to Kevin Rooney who lives nearby and tried to meet up with us around Walker Pass 2 days ago, sounds like you only missed us by a little bit, which is amazing considering how long a trail it is! Thanks for thinking of us! Ok, that's it for now, next update will be around June 10th when we hike out of the Sierras to resupply in Independence or Bishop (cause we heard the store in Independence has closed)

Day 44 Sun June 1

What a great sunrise and nice morning walk we had! 3 miles of ridge walking and then like 5 downhill, we hiked 8 miles by 8am! Easy hiking that is for sure! Stopped by the Fox Mill Spring, filled up on our water for the rest of the day and kept on walking (basic theme here.......walking) Walked through an old burn area with lots of purple lupine and small yellow flowers blooming and came around a corner and WOW, the Sierras! We could see them! Snow covered and just waiting for us to get there! Yeah, feel the excitement! Walked down to a stream and it was 3pm and we'd hiked 21 miles, so we rested there for a bit, washed the feet/legs (still very dirty hiking, dusty and dirty trail) and then we pushed on a few more miles for a good ole 25 mile day. We could see smoke in the distance (but not too far distance) from some sort of fire today. Noticed I have a few sunblisters coming back on my hands.....time to use more sunscreen. To bed by 7:20, a good day and tomorrow will be even better!

Day 43 Sat May 31

Said goodbye to Meadow Ed and the crew and back on the trail we went by 0650. Uphill we climbed.......maybe the extra food we bought wasn't such a good idea afterall?! Ate lunch with Samuri (she hikes about 500 miles of the PCT per year and her hike is done in 2 days for this year) Met a new couple on the trail from England (no trail names yet) Warm day hiking....or maybe it was the extra weight! When we reached the spring, we rinsed our feet, legs, arms, basically everything! Neighbor practically did a full laundry wash there! But it felt good! Saw 2 horny toads relaxing in the sun, smack in the middle of the trail, I stepped right over them and never saw them until Neighbor yelled, Hey, did you see these toads?! I went back and took a picture (see above) don't they look like they are kissing?! Stopped hiking just before 6pm on top of a ridge. Mac n' cheese for dinner.

Day 42 Fri May 30

Up early and hiking by 0530! Beautiful morning and close to the road, we saw a sign that said "Pancakes".......say no more, we are there! We walked down to Walker Pass Campground and found Meadow Ed and Meadow Mary with fruit, pancakes and the works (see picture to the left...that was the set up)! We each had a pancake and then set out for the road to hitch into Lake Isabella. Roadside, within 10 min a nice lady with a large drooling dog named Goliath pulled over in her Solara! So, Neighbor, Chief and I jumped in! I got to sit next to Goliath and he seemed to like the salt on my pants........during the 40 min car ride, he managed to lick most of it off.......yummmmmy. Anyway, we made it to Lake Isabella and quickly found the Kern Motel and decided not to stay the night there and headed for the famous milkshake diner! That was worth the trip! Oh my gosh! Over 100 different varities of milkshake.......ahhhhh! Neighbor and the Chief got Cookies and Cream/pistachio/something else and I got a chocolate/peanut butter/resees pieces! Wow! Then I got an omellette and the guys got Bacon cheeseburgers! Only when hiking can I eat like this and I love it! I'm still dreaming of that milkshake! Afther that, we waddled over to Vons (supermarket) and resupplied for the 51 miles of hiking to Kennedy Meadows (2 days and 1 morning of hiking) Then we caught a bus to Onyx for $1 and then caught a ride with 2 dirtbikers back up to Walker Pass, the funny thing is .......they know Stinky and Chris! Really small world! So, back at the campground for the night Meadow Ed was cooking up some steaks and salad which we gladly took part in and then we crashed for the night, bellies full! (after apple pie) :)

Day 41 Thurs May 29

Cold night but an amazing amount of stars. Another day of easy walking. Someone said the large snow covered mountain in the distance is Mt. Whitney! We saw more mountain lion tracks today (the locals call them pumas). Saw Laces and Lucky on the trail and that was it for hikers. Camped at McIvers spring with Chief, Vizor and Super (same crew as last night.) Hiked about 20 miles today by 4pm. The talk of the evening was all about going into Lake Isabella tomorrow morning! The famous milkshake place is going to be busy when we show up! Then its only 51 miles (2 days + 1 morning) of hiking to Kennedy Meadows. We are going to carry lots of food and eat good! Since we are used to carrying 5 days of food, 2 1/2 days will be nothing- so we'll carry extra! We are at miles 644.1 and feeling good- our bodies are finally in hiking shape!

Day 40 Wed May 28

Woke to damp sleeping bags and tent fly again. Cold morning, wool hat and gloves to start the day. Feeling low on energy, both Neighbor and I had to tighten our waist belts recently, so we know we're starting to lose weight. On the AT we both wore elastic waist shorts, so it wasn't a big deal, but now we're wearing nylon khaki pants and they are feeling loose. Hiking in the pine trees, large boulders everywhere, expansive views, its just wonderful. Made it to a road where people left water in jugs for hikers (called a water cache) by noon and that was 14 miles for the day. Dried out our gear there and devoured PB & pita for lunch. Walked another 8 miles after lunch. Warm afternoon, I even rolled up my pant legs and let the breeze blow on my skin. Heard many chirping bugs in the bushes- sounded like people snapping their fingers. Ate a meal that Pilgrim sent us "curry in a hurry"- that rocks! We might have to order a few of those online! Good stuff- then I made another interesting jumble of food in a pot meal and we finished dinner off with a tootsie roll pop. 28 miles to the next town- we were going to go into Onyx, but everyone keeps saying that Lake Isabella is the place to go. A store there has the best milkshakes on the trail, so Lake Isabella it just might have to be! Oh- we saw a big mountain to the north today, covered in snow! Its got to be in the Sierras!

Day 39 Tues May 27

My Mom's birthday- happy birthday Mom! We slept until 6am! Considering we went to bed at 6pm...that was a good nights sleep. Easy walking today, only 4 or 5 miles to the spring. Our tent and sleeping bags were damp, so we dried them out at the spring. Met a man who works for the wind farm and he told us how 1 windmill puts out 400 kilowatts of electricity per hour and the average house only uses around 200 kilowatts per month. Thats impressive, these are some windy mountains and we walked past hundreds of windmills today. The next water was 19 miles from the spring, so that was our destination for the day. The scenery is changing, more pine trees, less cacti, glacial valley below, mountains seem more impressive...I like it! Walked through a herd of cow, they stop grazing as we walk by and just stare. I move quickly through them. I know cows don't "charge" but they are big animals and I'm not hanging around! The sun came back today-ahh-feel the warmth. And yes I put on my sunscreen! I use celazome and I buy it from Michelle at www.orgskincare.com. She's great :) We made it to Robin bird spring by 6pm (mile 602.2). 7 others here, which is amazing considering we didn't see any other hikers today! Cooked up one interesting dinner- all in one pot was Annie's shells and cheese, some sundried tomatoes, a package of spring vegetable organic ramen, peas, carrots, corn, onions (from Just Tomatoes) and a foil package of sweet and spicy tuna! Tasty!

Day 38 Mon May 26

Up early and caught our 0630 ride. We asked someone yesterday to give us a ride to the trail, otherwise we might have been hitching all day long! Get us out of Mojave! Cold back on the trail, clouds flying by and drizzling, brrr. We got moving fast to stay warm. Chief, Wasa, Neighbor and I hiking together. We crossed Highway 58 (for those of you following our progress on the Triple A map) and climbed uphill. We realized that once we get above 6,000 feet, we won't come back down for another 700 miles! Great view back into the desert. We heard a few explosions from the military base below and joked that it was a meth lab blowing up! No water for 26 miles. So our packs are heavy and we have a full resupply of food, so we called it quits after 22 miles, only 4pm but it felt good to stop early. Cooked a chicken and rice dinner and crawled into our sleeping bags.

Day 37 Sun May 25

We forgot to get fuel yesterday and by the time we remembered, the Napa store was closed, so we had to wait until they opened today at 9am. We usually use denatured alcohol for the stove, but when that isn't available, we use HEET (antifreeze). So we walked to Napa, then looked towards the mountains we were headed for and noticed the big dark scary clouds and decided to stay in town for another night. Then we decided to try to "slackpack" the next 8 miles in between roads (leave most of your gear in the room and just hike with light packs). So, we tried hitching out of town for 30 min and gave up, most of the people driving by were from out of town and probably didn't even know about the PCT and the rest were from town and I wouldn't have wanted a ride from them! So, we went to the grocery store instead and bought some food for lunch, went back to the room and actually relaxed! Watched the Weather Channel and watched the big dark scary clouds get scarier and scarier! Cheese pizza and rootbeer floats for dinner. Oh and I've learned something new over the past few weeks- what tweekers are. I've never even heard the term before, but now I'm surrounded by it. For those who don't know- tweekers are the meth addicts and a few areas we've hiked through are full of them. Chels called our room! I had called her earlier but she was flying home from San Diego- so when she got the message she called our room back...what a great surprise!

Day 36 Sat May 24

Hiking by 0530, 13 miles to Mojave, putting on the wet shoes wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was a cold morning, I had 5 layers on top (all the top layers I'm carrying) and my wool hat and nice wet gloves. Up, up, up we climbed, into the snowy mountains, the wind was so cold, but we soon warmed up and took a few layers off. A dirtbiker was playing around in the snow last night and made an absolute mess of the trail. We were now walking in 4-5 inches of snow mixed with mud and once the sun started warming things up- yuck! We were able to walk alongside the trail on top of the snow without falling through for awhile, but eventually things softened up and snow kept going in our shoes! We made it back down to 4,000 feet and to the road (where everything was dry and snow free) and caught a ride into Mojave and right to the post office. Picked up 2 letters (one from the fam and one from Gram and Papa) and 2 care packages! One care package from Pilgrim who wanted to spice things up for us with "curry in a hurry", some thai meals, asian noodles and trail mix and Lindt chocolate (which never actually makes it to the trail because we eat it so quickly!) Thanks again Pilgrim!! I love the surprise of a care package and you just never know what you'll find inside. The other care package from Priscilla with what she says are homemade cookies (but they are the same ones she mailed last time and tried to pass off as homemade, so I'm not so sure if they are store bought or really homemade!) Either way- we loved them! Thanks! Some lipton side meals, instant potatoes and spices which are staples out here for us. A small bar of soap which I'm sure was a joke, but it'll come in handy, so I'm going to carry it. A familiar looking deodorant from Christen, which I know was a joke and I'm not carrying! Thanks for the thought. And many other snacks and treats that we will eat over the next 94 miles to Onyx. Anyway- then we walked the 1 mile to Motel 6 and being Memorial Day weekend and a Saturday, we thought we'd be paying tons of money for a room, but it was very reasonable and we quickly moved in and spread out all our wet gear. (the tent, fly, groundsheet, sleeping bags, packs) basically everything we were carrying was either wet or damp. Then we showered, went to the library and checked email/updated blog as much as possible, and picked up some bars (cliff, powerbar, nature valley, luna, odwalla, etc) per day. So the next stretch to Onyx is 94 miles (roughly 4 1/2 days of walking) so we needed 32 bars between the both of us. Then Chief and Wasa showed up at the motel and we all went out (across the street) for spaghetti and meatballs.

Day 35 Fri May 23

Good night sleep- our first time sleeping "cowboy" on the trip (no tent, just on the sleeping pad, in your sleeping bag). I woke and saw the moon rising over a city in the distance. Up and hiking by 0615, lots of flat mile ahead of us this day. Many clouds in the distance hovering around some mountains we were to climb later. Met up with "The Brothers" (Brit, Water Buffalo and Chunks) and before long...it started to sprinkle! Wow- our first rain the whole trip! We put on our trusty precips and away we went. The sprinkles turned into rain, ummm, yuck and with no rainpack covers, our packs soon were a bit heavier than we really wanted. Everyone said, "Oh, it never rains in the desert, and if it does, its only for an hour- then the sun comes out again." Well, the rain turned into HAIL and then thunder! This is not what we expected for the Mojave Desert, that is for sure! Wet shoes, wet packs, wet everything! Yuck! We kept hiking and came upon a couple hikers who had started a small fire to stay warm by! Yeah- Neighbor, Chief, Wasa and I all huddled around and it felt great! The hail stopped and the sky started to brighten, so we decided to make a run for it- another 3 miles to a spot where we could camp. The trail was so waterlogged at this point, rocks started sliding down the trail, eek! The hail started up again and then the thunder- so we got to the canyon- we set up the tents and climbed in to get warm. Only 3pm, but we were at 4,000 ft and had 13 miles to go until we got to the road to Mojave and the trail goes up above 6,000 ft and we didn't want to mess around with the cold winds, hail, and being soaked and have to camp in the snow. Cooked 2 meals for dinner and went to bed by 6pm!

small update

Sorry about the lack of info/details on the last few posts, the computer in Mohave was crazy slow- and now there are no computers for weeks, so I've mailed these updates to my sister. Thanks again Chels! You're the best sister in the whole world! (Even though they are just now being added! Ooops.) I'll add pictures to these posts hopefully from Independence around June 7.

Stuff I forgot to mention:
We have been carrying Marmot Precip rain jackets since we started and have not used them once, haven't even thought about the extra 11oz....until Day 34, 518 miles north of Mexico! Many people don't even carry raingear until Washington State, but it was chilly and we were glad we had them as extra wind protection.
Also, when we left the Saufleys, I put on my trailshoes after not wearing them for 3 days and they didn't fit! My feet were so swollen! So, I had to call Campmor and order another pair of shoes 1/2 size bigger to be sent to Kennedy Meadows.

Day 34 Thurs May 22

Hiking by 0615, about 7 miles over to Highway 138 where we found "Hikertown". A cute little place with old western looking buildings (another place that lets hikers stay) We left our backpacks there and walked the 1 mile down the road to a store and bought a big ole sandwich for lunch. Chief, Wasa, Neighbor and I. Went back to hikertown and relaxed in the shade for a bit, then started the flat walking along the aqueduct. Walked about 11 miles of 100% flat walking and saw mountain lion tracks alongside of the road! Exciting stuff! We also ran into Squatch (guy who makes PCT videos) and he interviewed The Chief and Neighbor..........I have a feeling that Neighbor is going to make the next video.....for some reason!!!!

Day 33 Wed May 21

We woke up to something wet dripping from the tree above our heads, then Neighbor had to chase a skunk away, so we finally just got up! Made it to the top of the ridge and the wind hit us in full force! If it isn't hot or cold out here........it's WINDY! Today was one of those windy days! We walked through an area of pink flowers, widely spaced trees and meadows today that reminded us of the Smokies on the AT. Hiked about 23.5 miles in the end. Tried to find a safe place to camp where a tree wouldn't fall on us during the night in all the WIND!

Hit the 500 mile mark today!

Day 23 Tues May 20

Up at 5am and started walking before the heat of the day really started cranking up! Beautiful sunrise! Neighbor saw a taranturla (big hairy scary spider with a name that I can't spell) and the guy hiking behind us took a picture of it! It was scary! Hiked about 17 miles by noon and then caught a ride to the Anderson's "Casa de Luna" (another family of trail angels that let's hikers stay at their house!!) We stayed about 4 hours, took a nap, ate one of our dinner's for lunch, then Terri came home and took our pictures in front of the big "Casa de Luna" poster.......and we found out why it's called Casa de Luna.........as our picture was being taken........Terri mooned us! :) Hence the name! It was pretty funny, then she gave us a ride back to the trail around 4pm and we started walking again. Made it another 8 miles in the afternoon and tented under a big tree.

The rest of our day at the Saufley's

Ahhhhh, how we hated to leave the Saufley's! We hung out as long as we could and eventually left around 4:30 in the afternoon and walked downtown to get some dinner before leaving town. The Pizza place and Cafe were closed, so it was back to the Mexican place for us! We started walking out of town at 6:30pm and Neighbor's watch read 97 degrees! Good thing we waited the heat out! Ahhhh! Anyway, we walked by full moonlight until 10pm, it was kinda cool...........until I heard something move in the bushes! Eeeeeek! Got 8 miles of walking in and called it quits for the night. The Chief continued on.........

decision has been made!

North into the desert we go.
We will leave around 4pm (when it gets cooler) and see how far we make it. It is 24 miles to the Anderson's (more trail angels on the trail!!) The Chief is thinking of night hiking it! Full moon tonight, so it would be the time to try it........I'm scared!
Hikers are coming in here by the truckload! Folks we haven't seen in days, some weeks!
Irish, Poptart, Blue butterfly, One step, Sweetfish, many others that we don't know. It's time for us to move on!

Monday May 19th

Still here at the Saufley's..........it's going to be difficult to leave all of this, I guess that is why they call it Hiker Heaven! I'm sitting on a couch in air conditioning, eating cookies and cream ice cream and outside the window is a dry, hot, not so inviting desert waiting for us. We went to the Post Office this morning and mailed out our bear cannisters, ice axes and another box of "stuff" to Kennedy Meadows, some food to Independence, some stuff back home, a tent fly back to MSR, paperwork to Priscilla, and a few postcards! On the way back, we saw Low Bridge and Dandy in town! Yeah, so now we will figure out if we'll all go back to hike those missing 39 miles of trail! Tempting, knowing there is nice cold snow on the mountain we will hike down there! :) I saved all of the last stretch of photos onto our jump drive without any help this time! (that's a first) And I will try to get more pictures of us for this site. Chief has the best photos of us on his site (I don't even have to take any pictures, he takes so many!!!) Ok, going to break into the watermelon that Stinky and Chris left for us and figure out if we are going north or south from here!!!
Here's a video of the thru-hikers putting up tent accomadations at the Saufleys, in it I'm trying to console the Great Cheif-Chi-Hua-Hua Rainbowtoes because his LA Lakers are about to lose the NBA championship to the greatest team on earth
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asafantman/2739251793/in/set-72157604764377263/

360 view from summit of Baden-Powell

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asafantman/2503821999/

here is a link to the video (quick 40 seconds) of the view from the summit of Baden-Powell by the Chief! You see Neighbor at first, then the view, then the smoke from the fire by Mt. Baldy, then me coming up to the summit :)

me hiking up baden-powell (one of the Chief's pictures) I think you might have to click on the little box and it will link you to the Chief's website, still getting fancy with this thing!!!!

Day 30 Sunday May 18

No miles hiked today! A "zero day" :) We organized a massive amount of food though, so it wasn't exactly a rest day! Figured out what food we needed for the next 100 miles to Mojave and figured out what food we need for the first 113 miles of the Sierra's (from Kennedy Meadows to Kearsarge Pass) including the extra mileage that we'll do to summit Mt. Whitney (the highest peak in the lower 48) :) It is very close to the trail and just too beautiful to pass by (unless there is really bad weather) We fit the 113 miles of food into 2 bear cannisters (which we have to carry to keep the bears from eating our food) Overall a good day at the Saufley's! We just rode the bikes down to the store and got some cereal and milk for dinner (too hot to cook) and then some ice cream for later...... Oh, and we just heard that the 39 miles of trail we missed opened back up yesterday, so we are contemplating renting a car and driving back down to hike those miles and put it all behind us.......but Low Bridge and Dandy wanted to go with us and they are not here quite yet.....maybe they will show up later tonight and we can form a plan! It would be great to go hike Mt. San Jacinto and enjoy the SNOW up there instead of heading into the Mojave desert in record breaking high temps, but we'll see!

Day 29 Sat May 17

Up for 0530 and walking the remaining 3.5 miles to town! I put on my clean short sleeved shirt for the walk in, what a great feeling being in short sleeves! (the sun wasn't up yet, so I couldn't burn to a crisp) Walked past Valquez Rocks (I guess these rocks are famous for being in some old Western movies) We were at the Saufley's house by 7am and signed up for a shower! Then we put our dirty clothes in a basket and L-Rod does all the laundry! Yeah! They have quite the system here and it's great! Found our many boxes in the garage (everyone's in alphbetical order) Wow! Our ice axes made it in once piece! (we will mail them ahead to the Sierra's from here) and 2 boxes of food and stuff that we'll probably need for the Sierra's AND a care package from Gram and Grampa Kingsbury with trail necessities and real homeade cookies in it! (our first homeade cookies on the trail) Priscilla "tried" to pass her cookies off as homeade........nice try! :) And a care package from our friend Yappy (AT 2005 friend who lives in Alaska) filled with all kinds of good trail goodies and a 3 pound bag of M&M's (which we are eating now) And just in was a whole case of granola bars from Linda from work and Peter (who wants to make sure we are having FUN.....and we are!!) Thanks guys! And a letter from Grammy Peg (who recently figured out how to get to and read this blog!!! Good for you Gram and hello!!) After going through all of that, we signed up for the morning trip to REI (we need some new shoes for the Sierras) and grocery store. So, there were 8 of us hikers piled into this massive suburban and Neighbor was driving and off to LA we went! Ahhhhh! What an experience! The REI didn't have the shoes we were looking for, so we tried one other store, then went grocery shopping, then after all that headed back to the Saufley's. With traffic and everything, it took almost all day. As we were pulling off the highway, we get pulled over! Neighbor didn't have a seatbelt on and it is a California law, then the cop realized that there were 4 of us in the middle section of the vehicle (guess there were only seats for 3 there......so I jumped in the back) after all that, he just gave us a verbal warning, phewwww! What a day! Then we get back and who is there, but Stinkyfeet and Chris! Wow! What a fun suprise! We got to visit for a few hours and go out to dinner (Mexican)! They brought freshly picked strawberries, beer, watermelon, cherries and all kinds of good trail electrolyte replacement tablets for us to survive the desert!!! Thanks again guys!

Day 29 Sat May 17

Up for 0530 and hiking the 3.5 miles into Agua Dulce! Yeah, finally here! Warm morning and I actually hiked in my t-shirt for once (sun wasn't up yet) Got to town, cafe wasn't open yet, so we just headed up to the Saufley's (super nice family that let's hikers stay with them and 100% helps you out in anyway possible) So, by 7am we were at their place and signed up for a shower and put our laundry in the basket to be cleaned! Yeah, went to the garage and picked up our many packages! Some we expected, others were a great suprise! Our ice axes made it (we'll mail them up ahead to the Sierra's), our new tent fly made it, our 2 boxes of maps, dehydrated food and other stuff made it! A great care package from Gram and Grampa (with REAL homeade cookies in it! Our first homeade cookies, though Priscilla "tried" to pass her cookies off as homeade) Another package from Yappy (AT friend from 2005 who lives in Alaska) with all kinda of fun trail food, a letter from my Grammy Peg (who just recently found this website, she's a computer genius now!!) Hi gram! And just in the mail today is a package of trail bars from Linda from work and Peter! Thank you so much......and yes, we are having FUN! :) After all of that, we signed up to take the family surburban into the city to REI and go food shopping at a less expensive store. So, 8 of us piled into this beast of a vehicle and went to Los Angeles! Wow, going fast on the highway was a weird feeling, esp for Neighbor who was driving! Got our errands done without too much hassle and made it back to Agua Dulce! Pulling off the highway, we get pulled over..........guess it's the law to wear a seatbelt in CA (I had mine on!!) Others didn't....the cop looked at us like we were crazy (this surburban was older and the a/c didn't work and it was nearly 100 degrees today, so all the windows were down and we were all windblown.) Then he realized that there were 4 of us in the middle row of seats instead of 3, so I crawled in the back row, after all that we only left with a verbal warning! We filled up the beast for 3.99 per gallon and brought it back to the Saufley's! Then we realized that our friend Stinky and Chris were here to visit us! They drove an hour to hang out with us!!! We chatted for a bit, then went out for Mexican food! What a great end to a fun day! It's almost 11pm here now, so I'm going to sign off for a bit, tomorrow involves putting all the food we bought into boxes and mailing ahead for the Sierra's!