We’re starting to feel the dirt, as soon as we wash get dirty again as everything is sitting in the dirt, we sit in the dirt. Dirt, dirt, dirt. A mani/pedi is definitely in the top 10 To-Do’s when get home though they may take one look at us and charge us double! There’s a promise of a shower and perhaps even laundry at Red’s this afternoon; that with a cheeseburger will make us 3 happy campers!

I think because we were on the last day of this section and about to hit the Restart button, this morning we had a “One Thing” conversation: what’s your favorite thing that you brought? What one thing do you wish you brought? What do you dislike the most? Etc, etc. We also reminisced about our drive here and the beginning of our trip. Eric driving us up and the first night at Yosemite; funny though, we didn’t talk about the days ahead… All morning we hiked down through a peaceful forest of huge pine trees. We were feeling great and making fun of ourselves in the shadows.

Jessica & Jason, semi-new newlyweds,  passed us in the forest while we trying to take pictures of Alpine Lilies. They were kind enough to pull out their wildflower guide and we spent several minutes oohing and ahing over plants we recognized seeing.

Our lovely forest turned into a dusty tree graveyard as we entered an area affected by a severe windstorm 3 years ago. We even came across a work crew that stopped us so they could fell a tree to widen the trail for the “animules” that use the PCT. It was a bit distressing to see all the devastation but there’s already a lot of new plant growth taking hold.

It was a hot long dusty road into Red’s. We were so thankful for that first sip of our cold drink and the shower was nirvana. And then there was this!

Note: soon we won’t have reception for days on end so it will be a long time till we blog again.
J.A.M.