I woke up and felt inspired to go to Mt. Shasta. I’m not sure why but it was where I was feeling called. Before I officially left Utah, I spent the night in St. George at a friend’s place. It was a couple I had met in Escalante when I was with Pneumonia. They had offered their place if I were to pass through the area. So I visited, we went out for Mexican food and hung out with their plump little bunnies in the living room. They were thinking about hiking a section of the Hayduke, specifically the Grand Canyon part. It would be superb if I could join their group in the spring!
The next morning, I started hitching on an on-ramp. I put it out into the Universe that I needed a hair tie since I lost the one I had. I requested a gold spiral one like the one I found the other year. Lo and behold, I found exactly the one I asked for. Then, I got a ride from a couple of guys for a short period of time. One of them told me he called his granddaughter a crack whore because she was obsessed with hiking through slot canyons. Then, I was given $20 for food.
Afterwards, I got picked up by a musician guy who appeared to be in his late sixties.
“Where are you going?” he asked as he made space in his vehicle.
“As far as you,” I said, “but technically California.”
He smiled. “Let’s see how far we can get, but I’m going to need to stop and eat first.”
He also lived in Hawaii and was headed to New Zealand for the winter. He was currently on his way to Santa Barbara for a dentist appointment! I laughed at the synchronicity because I needed to go to a dentist, myself. He offered up the idea of making an appointment because it was his friend he was going to.
We got to talking about what got us into the traveling lifestyle. “I’m a two time cancer survivor,” he said, “14 years of it. I don’t care. It’s all good. If I die, I die.”
He asked what I went to college for. When I said cinematography he laughed and said, “Were we meant to meet?” then batted his eyes. His main job was working in film productions. I laughed at the constant synchronicities we had.
We were vibing alright, that was until he put on some music that was about love/sex. Anytime the lyrics got romantic or sexual, he would turn up the volume to the point where my eardrums would experience pain. I would look at my phone, signaling I wasn’t interested.
Then, he pulled over into a rest area so I could tell him my plan of where I wanted to go. I had already told him up nort, but he was trying to convince me to come to Santa Barbara with him.
“You’ll have more fun with me,” he said.
I looked at my map and noticed my hitching path could lead me into Tehachapi. That thought felt good so I asked him to drop me off at a dirt road trailhead beside the highway/railroad tracks. I needed a moment to feel the PCT and experience the sense of home. I was feeling tender after Elbio had reached out to me saying he regretted meeting me. He felt hurt over what I had written about him and that I had published it. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone I had grown a connection with was hurting and the finger was being pointed at me.
Welp, I got dropped off but it was cold so I decided to hitch back to where I came from. Before I left I saw a sign posted for a trail Angel named Larry near Walker Pass who lent his home to hikers. I didn’t necessarily need a place to stay nor do laundry/eat, but what I did want was to meet people and hear their story.
I got picked up by a woman who had ‘ERTHFLT’ as her license plate.
I laughed and said, “I love how open you are about it and that you don’t give a shit what other people would think.”
“Fuck that!“ she said. “The earth is flat and that’s it. I have no issue stating the obvious.”
She dropped me off near Mojave then a cop pulled over seconds later. Damnit, it’s unreal how I still haven’t met a cop I was attracted to.
He opened the window and asked, “What on earth are you doing here?”
I laughed and said, “Yeah, I know, it’s a shit spot. I’m aware of that, ha ha.”
I walked up closer to him and asked if he could give me a lift to a different hitching spot. He opened the door for me and I hopped in the back. Although I wasn’t attracted to him, I asked him numerous questions in a sexual tone.
“You ever tackled someone?”
“You ever handcuff people?”
“You ever make people feel intimidated by your presence?”
My face blushed. My questions were only backfiring as I was turning myself on and I knew it wasn’t going to get anywhere. He dropped me off in Inyokern and I thanked him for the ride. Then just as I started to hitch towards Bishop, Larryl called and said he could pick me up. I offered to hitch out closer to him but he had no issue picking me up from Inyokern. He said he’d be there in 45 minutes. The wind was strong and loud, so in the meantime I started walking towards the gas station. Suddenly, a vehicle with a PCT sticker pulled over. I laughed so hard when I recognized it was Sergio, a man I had met back in 2019 when I first thru-hiked the PCT.
“I thought you were in Utah?!” he said.
“I was,” I said, “I felt like going to California.”
I threw my pack in as he stared at me sweetly. “You haven’t aged at all,” he said. “You are still smiling, just as you did when I met you.”
I was aware that my eyes sparkled. “Thank you, Sergio. It’s because I’m doing something I love.”
I absolutely adored his energy and catching up in such a spontaneous way. He was on his way to Walker Pass to drop off water for hikers and said it would be easier for Larry to pick me up there so I gave him a heads up of where I’d be.
Larry was awesome. He was 75 and had a passion for helping out hikers. He drove me back to his place and just before we arrived we passed through some artwork on the hill. It appeared to be a miniature village that was built using wood/scraps.
“I’m pretty sure some drug addicts made it,” Larry said.
Larry told me to make myself feel comfortable when we arrived at his giant house with a saltwater pool.
“I won’t feel comfortable unless you do,” he said.
He gave me an entire room to myself.
“Wow,” I said, “I was just expecting to camp today.”
“Oh no,” he said, “this is all yours. Feel free to change the temperature to make it as warm as you’d like.”
He made me a pizza with extra cheese on it. His friend came over with a tiny dog that fit perfectly into his sweater. We talked about marriage and I asked Larry why he got divorced.
“It’s a long story,” he said, “we were very young.”
His friend goes, “I tell myself I can read women well, but I guess I can’t because I’ve been married five times. But I can read dogs and I love those things. In fact, I love them more than people.”
I laughed. “So why do you keep getting married?”
“Not sure,” he said. “In the end, some of the marriages ending were my fault. Some of them were the woman’s fault. I’m an alcoholic so I knew I was in the wrong for a lot of them, but then other times women would cheat on me so they were in the wrong.”
Larry was now thinking about selling his home to downgrade. He didn’t feel he needed such a big space, especially after property tax went up a great percentage. His son was also diagnosed with the worst kind of brain cancer so was trying to make ends meet with that as well. He was basically told there was no chance his son would survive, that it would be a miracle if he did. When his own doctor told him all he could really do was pray, he took it as a sign to go back to church and so he reinvoked God in his life. I was happy to hear that.