How Accurate?

Here is my horoscope that I read while having breakfast before catching the bus to Cascade Locks.


[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800" caption="My horoscope to start the hike"][/caption]

Amtrak To Vancouver, Wa

Thursday: (07/31) Not a good sleep on the train, mostly because it's too interesting. I awoke at 0530 when it was light outside. I went to the parlor car at 0600 and had breakfast at 0630 as soon as the dining car opened. A nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage, croissant, OJ, and tea for $11. Not bad. At Klamath Falls at 0800.
Oregon seen from the train was nice and green. I checked the Amtrak app near Eugene and it said we would arrive in Vancouver on time. A nice lunch in the dinning car, a chicken breast on mashed spuds. We did arrive in Vancouver on time at 1633. I walked to a bus stop and caught the first of two busses arriving at Fisher's Landing just three minutes late for my bus to Cascade Locks, the only bus today. Trees were several reasons good enough to miss the bus. There was only 20 minutes slack between train arrival and bus travel time. I had trouble finding the bus stop, it wasn't near the station. No street signs. And at the advise of my first driver, I changed my second bus. It was a longer ride and was supposed to be faster. The second bus was 5 minutes late, and the Skakamia bus was on schedule. I tried to find a motel but none had rooms or were close enough for me to catch the 0700 bus tomorrow. I had dinner at Sharie's restaurant, CFS, baked potato an soup Nice to use the Senior menu. I cowboy camped in a gully at the bus transfer station. I enjoyed a nice sunset created by a cloud to the SE. It got company during the night turning the weather from warm and mostly clear sky to overcast, cool, and some sprinkles. I awoke at 0500 and had breakfast at IHOP the closest restaurant.

Why Is It So Hard To Get Ready To Go?

I should be able to just throw my pack back on my shoulders and go, but it never works that way.

Thursday: (07/24) A relaxing morning at home for me. Dawn and Lou were out all day with appointments and shopping. Nice that Lou is driving again! I spent the morning working on my hike planning. Other than getting the right amount of supplies to the right places I don't really do much planning. I did check on what fire  closures exist now though. There are two in Oregon now, none in Washington where I'll start. After lunch, I finally went outside. I cleaned up my rocks. Sounds weird, but I have a pile of rocks in the front flower bed near the tree that I removed. They were leftover from previous projects. There were leaves, twigs and now chainsaw chips from the tree removal mixed into the rocks. I wanted some clean rocks to add to the bottom of several of the planters in the rear yard that whose drains have plugged and now contain standing water. I removed the plantings and added the rocks with some geo=textile drain fabric over the rocks. Should work better now, I hope. After a shower I was off to REI to see what I might need for the hike. I got a mosquito jacket. Sounds like they are really bad right now.

Breakfast was leftovers. I expanded the leftover corned beef hash for Lou and Dawn by adding another potato and some onion. For breakfast i had some biscuits Ernie delivered. I tried out a couple of packets of peanut butter, one with honey and one with chocolate. I think I'll be adding the packets to my supplies for the hike. I had leftover dim sum for lunch. For dinner I had chili with rice. Lou and Dawn were out for lunch at Original Joe's and dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.

Friday: (07/25) Tinkering after morning tea in the yard. Granola for breakfast. Meili took us to lunch at the Chinese Super Buffet in San Jose. Interestingly, my fortune said "You should be able to undertake and complete anything." That's comforting! I continued working on my pack inventory.

Saturday: (07/26) We did our shopping run first thing today. Breakfast at A Good Morning Restaurant. Corn chowder soup for lunch. Tuna stuffed tomatoes from our garden for dinner. Dawn and I picked some grapes at our neighbors. I continued to prepare for my hike.

Sunday: (07/27) I expanded the leftover roast pork hash with a couple of potatoes and an onion for a nice breakfast. Sort of a Mulligan breakfast. We're doing pretty good getting rid of leftovers and emptying out the freezer. Lou had me busy cleaning out the side yard of leaf debris. I then got to my main task of preparing to leave. I applied some anti mosquito and tick spray to my outer garments, socks, hat, backpack, and tent. That should help keeping them at bay. I completed getting my pack loaded. There are a few more things to get though. I still need to prepare my resupply food boxes. That includes my first load of food which I'll be mailing to Portland to lighten my load. My base pack weight is now 25.7 lbs by calculation. I still need to actually weigh the combination of loads. The 12 days of food I'll be starting with will double the load. I don't need to lug that around on the train. For lunch I made open faced toasted pork hash with thick sliced tomato and black pepper cheese sandwiches. Our garden tomatoes are so good! Chinese chicken salads for dinner.

 Monday: (07/28) Cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast. lo and Dawn were off to an appointment early. I finished loading my resupply boxes through Washington. If all goes well Lou well prepare the Oregon boxes later. I don't want a bunch of food items leftover if I stop before doing Oregon. I made a shopping run including Fry's Electronics, REI, and Home Depot. Lunch at Los Altos Taqueria, a nice chili relleno. Salmon with broccoli and rice for dinner.

Tuesday: (07/29) Sausage hash and eggs for breakfast. I sent off my first two supply boxes and bought my ticket to Vancouver, Washington on Amtrak. My train departs San Jose tomorrow evening. Hopefully it's on schedule this time. Last time I took it it was six hours late. I should be in Vancouver late Thursday afternoon. I sent a resupply box to Cascade Locks to lighten my pack for the ride. I should pick it up Friday and then get on the trail. If I'm real lucky I'll make it to Vancouver in time for the evening bus to Cascade Locks. If not, there is always the morning bus. Just a few things yet to be done. Lou and I went shopping in the afternoon and had lunch at Los Altos Taqueria a torta for me and super nachos for Lou. In the evening we all, Ernie, Courtney, Dawn, Lou and I went to Andy's BBQ in Santa Clara for a celebratory dinner for Lou achieving 120 degree flex of her new knee.


A typical PCT hike meal bag contents. These items are supplemented with granola bars, trail mix, peanut butter and tortillas. My final base pack load was weighed as 40 pounds. I'm not sure what the extra 15 pounds are but solving that will be for another time. The pack is generally the same weight as it was for my fist part of the hike even though it now contains a real sleeping bag, not a quilt, an ice axe, rain gear, and some other things needed for potential colder hiking.

A news article today said that Palo Alto, my home town, is the number one snobbiest small town in the country. Nice to be know for something. Highest household income, housing cost, Highest education level, and a good deal of art galleries, performing arts activities and private schools. Also the fewest fast food restaurants. Too bad I couldn't have contributed more (something) (anything) to our receiving such distinction.

Wednesday: (07/30) Dawn made a Mediterranean breakfast of cereal, tomatoes, onions and ? Leftover ribs and stuff from last nights dinner. I modified mine to a sandwich. I dumped the holding tanks on the RV and washed the bugs off the front of it. Now it can sit for a while, again. I did the final tasks to get ready to leave and tried really hard not to start anything new. I have an app on my phone that I can check the train status. Now, at 1542, the train is estimated to be 4 minutes behind schedule.

Home Again, For Now

Tuesday: (07/22) I did some work in the yard after morning tea in the yard. We also added a couple of things in the neighbors cleanup day special garbage pickup. We don't really need the old dish washer and hat water tank that adorned our yard. Lou had a couple of appointments today. she reached 120 degrees today!  A little more yard work in the afternoon. I had a dental appointment. I had a crown adjusted and filling repaired. Wiener hash scramble for breakfast. A pork football (Dim Sum) for lunch. Carnitas nachos ala Lou for dinner.

Now I just need to get my gear together and get a train ticket to resume my hike. Also need to decide where, exactly, I'll resume from and prepare my resupply boxes.


Wednesday: (07/23) Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. I was off to a meeting in San Jose where I used to work. The Traffic Signal Association meeting had some speakers presenting a new controller cabinet and UPS systems. But, the real reason to go was to see the people where I used to work. Nice to the  the Traffic Operations Center working. Nice visit. Lunch was a sandwich and soup at our local Corner Bakery with Lou and Dawn. After my nap, I started hike planning and preparation.  Lou made tuna steaks with rice and a Waldorf salad.

Q&A About My PCT Hike

There are some questions that get asked whenever I mention my PCT Hike. I thought I'd make a Q^A list of some of the questions. This is writen after i completed two weeks of the hike from Campo, CA to Palm Springs, CA. I then took a break and returned to the trail at Cascade Locks, Oregon changing from a through hike to a section hike.

• What is the PCT? It is the Pacific Crest Trail and is about 2650 miles stretching from the Mexican border at Campo, California and into Canada at Manning Park, British Columbia mostly along the mountain crests on the way. Almost all the hikers travel Northbound (NOBO).


• How long will it take? Depending on hiking speed and days off the trip can take from 4 to 6 months. I started with an average daily travel distance of 15 miles and progressed to 20 miles per day the first week. During the first two weeks of my hike the longest day was only 22 miles. At the 15-20 mile rate, and only taking an average of one day off per week it would have taken me 4.4-5 months.


• What Inspired you to do the PCT? I received a new Meetup group notification for a through hikers group. i joined the group and attended the first meeting. As it turns out, that was their only meeting but I enjoyed talking with the others and did more research about the hike. I reviewed several blogs of hikers that did the hike in 2013. I was hooked.


• How did you prepare for the hike? I regularly do weekly 10 mile hikes. I read gear reviews to determine what hiking gear I needed. I contacted another area through hiker and did a 12 mile 4000 foot climb hike up Mount Diablo. I did an 85 mile 4 day practice hike from Palo Alto to the coast and back.


• What do you eat? Just about anything that doesn't weight too much. Generally, you don't want foods that have much water in them because you can get water on the trail and don't need the extra weight of hydrated food. Most meals are just re-hydrated with boiling water not cooked. Things like ramen noodles, mashed potatoes, dried soups, oatmeal, etc. Spam in single slice packets or tuna packets, single serving summer sausage packets, cheese, tortillas, granola bars, peanut butter. My favorite meal was mashed potatoes with spam and cheese.


• How do you re-supply? US mail at the Post Office using General Delivery. Sometimes the trails passes near the Post Office and stores. Other times a little hitch hiking is needed.

We Had Our Chi Adjusted

Saturday: (07/19) Sausage and onion gravy on bread for breakfast. We started with a visit to the SLO Arboretum (above) just down the hill here in the park. It's also a good visit and is a good source of ideas for converting our yards landscaping o a Mediterranean native plant scape. Next we stopped at the Sierra Vista Regional Hospital where they were offering a free energy balancing clinic. Dawn had found it on the Internet. We've never done that before so, of course, we had to try it. With of chi pushed into shape we were ready to tackle the rest of the day. Lunch at Louisa's Place Restaurant. Excellent breakfasts for lunch. My guacamole bacon omelet was great.The afternoon was spent downtown looking around. We haven't visited this place before but knew it would be good by the crowd. Another fine place to revisit in the future. We returned to cam and had leftovers for dinner. Lou had an ear bothering here so about 2000 we returned to the Sierra Vista Regional Hospital to have it looked at. It was a quick visit and we were back at camp a little after 2230.

Sunday: (07/20) A day visiting thrift stores in Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo. Breakfast at Francisco's Country Kitchen in Arroyo Grande. Dinner at the Pismo Fish an Chips.

Monday: (07/21) We didn't hurry packing to leave and didn't leave the campground until after 1100.


I filled the RV with gas and then we left it at a city park while we went over to Cal Poly to visit the Leaning Tree Arboretum.


It's located up the hill behind their numerous green houses. The campus can be seen in the distance in the photo above left.


This arboretum, though just 5 miles from where we are camped at the San Luis Obispo Arboretum, is in much better shape. That might be because there is more water here on the campus.


More good ideas for our eventual landscape changes at home.

We were finally on the road toward home at 1430. We took Hwy 1 to Morro Bay and then Hwy 41 to Atascadero, the same route we took down. It avoids the steep climb out of San Luis Obispo on Hwy 101. We stopped in Morro Bay for a visit to the hardware store and antique shop.


Then we stopped in Atascadero so I could look at the antique shop Lou and Dawn had seen while I stayed with the RV at the garage. It had a nice garden they wanted me to see. We arrived home a little after 2000. Steak hash and eggs for breakfast. Pork and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Dinner at the Rancho San Miguel Market in Greenfield. Nice super nachoes and a chili relleno with some flan.

On The Road To San Luis Obispo

Thursday: (07/17) Dawn and I had appointments at the dentist and then we were on the road by 1015. We stopped for lunch in Greenfield. Another stop in Paso Robles were I napped while Lou and Dawn visited the thrift and antiques stores downtown. Our next stop was not planned. We were taking Hwy 41 in Atascadero toward Morro Bay when we noticed a person waving and pointing at us. I pulled over and saw a lot of smoke coming from under the RV. I checked and there were no flames, just smoke. Oil was all over everything including the exhaust pipe. Of course there was  no cell signal here. I disconnected the Jeep and determined where we were and returned to Atascadero to call for a tow. Within two hours (1830) we were delivered to a shop in Atascadero where they determined an oil line had come loose from a support and worn a hole in itself. We will have a replacement installed tomorrow morning.

Granola for breakfast. Lunch in Greenfield at the Rancho San Miguel market, a must stop for us. They had a sale on, my favorite, flan. BBQ ribs with avocados and potato salad for dinner.

Friday: (07/18) I fixed chorizo scrambled eggs for breakfast. That caught the interest of the mechanics when they smelled the aroma delivered to them from our kitchen vent.  For lunch Lou made salsa with black beans, corn, and shrimp which we enjoyed with corn chips. I took an early walk around nearby before our parts arrived. Lou and Dawn went out later. We were fortunately right in the middle of a couple of thrift stores. The oil lines for the RV are no longer made and when they were replaced in Las Vegas a few years ago they modified the lines so an original wouldn't work anyway. So some lines were fabricated which added some time to the repair. We were ready to roll by 1430. And we were most pleasantly supplied by the final cost. Just $415. Being a pessimist, I figured it would be twice that. Rather than hookup the Jeep Lou just drove it the 16 miles to the campground. She said she was rather concerned by the smoke coming from the RV as I drove in front of her. I didn't see anything. Fortunately, it burnt off before we got to  the campground. We checked in to our campsite and started relaxing.

Bringing on the Rain, Washed the Cars

Saturday: (07/12) Overcast day. We started the day with our weekly grocery shopping. I worked on the RV most of the day. I cleaned up the bedroom and pulled the linens and washed them. I also washed both cars before washing half of the RV. I also need to wax it. It's been so long dirty that I had to scrub a lot of oxidized surface and some mildew. Sausage and gravy for breakfast.Steak, cauliflower, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob for dinner.

Sunday: (07/13) Overcast day. We "walked" to breakfast then to the Grocery Outlet about a mile away by road, half that if we could only cross the railroad tracks directly to it. I spent the rest of the day preparing music for my MP3 player for the hike. We took Ernie to dinner for his birthday today. He said he was 39. OK? Courtney joined us. Breakfast at Taqueria El Grullense down the block. Dinner at Marie Calendar's restaurant in Sunnyvale.

Monday: (07/14) Up early (for me anyway). I headed outside and added some wax to the front and right sides of the motorhome. Those are the sides most exposed to the sun and are what I washed yesterday. Breakfast was leftovers from yesterdays breakfast. We went out shopping and had lunch at LUU noodle house. I relaxed all afternoon then went outside and washed the rear and left of the motorhome. I spent some extra time removing some road tar/sand specks from the rear that we gained in Alaska. I have washed the RV since then but have never worked at removing the specks. Dinner was roast pork with eggplant Parmesan and artichokes.

Tuesday: (07/15) I finished waxing the RV doing the rear and left sides. I also filled the water tank, made the bed and cleaned the front inside. The inside was done in the evening watching TV. Dawn had a test for a job at the library so we were all out and about in the afternoon. Granola for breakfast. Chinese chicken salad for lunch. Dim Sum for dinner.

Wednesday: (07/16) Final preperations to leave. Dawn had an interview. Breakfast was leftovers, lunch at Chili's and leftovers again for dinner.

Razorback Ridge / Hamms Gulch Hike

Friday: (07/11) Breakfast from Jack In The Box. I had a three stop carpool picking up passengers at the house, the train station and a Park and Ride lot. I was leading another hike with the San Jose Mid-week Hikers Metup Group.  The hike began near the end of Alpine Road in Portola Valley. We entered the Windy Hill Open Space preserve and hiked to the top of the mountain via Razorback Ridge Trail. We enjoyed our lunch at the top with great clear views of the ocean and bay on either side of the mountain.  We then returned down the Hamms Gulch Trail. Both trails were nice and green, rather surprising with our lack of rain. This hike was 9.7 miles with an elevation change of 1200 feet. I had 21 hikers with me on the hike.

Razorback Ridge / Hmms Gulch Hike

EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

Lou reached another milestone this morning. She drove herself to the market for a few things. First time driving in two months. After the hike i drove over to my favorite Dim Sum restaurant in Sunnyvale for lunch then stopped by REI to gt a cooling scarf/towel. One of my fellow hikers had one and after two hours on the trail it was still cool. Could be really helpful on the trail. Lou made hamburgers for dinner.

Last night we decided to take a little RV jaunt to San Luis Obispo next weekend. Of course there was no room at the state park in Pismo Beach, nor any other state park for the next couple of months. We also tried to get a space at the Santa Cruz harbor RV Park but they were full until mid August. We did get the last space available at El Churro Regional Park in San Luis Obispo so we will get to go after all. This will give Lou a break before i head back to the Pacific Crest Trail.

PCT 2014 Class Photo

I finally found a class photo. I'm the second from the left in the top row in the green jacket.

Up On The Roof

Saturday: (07/05) Another Saturday morning shopping run. Bananas with cereal for breakfast. Leftovers du jour for lunch. I made stuffed bell peppers for dinner. It's one of my specialties. For seven peppers, I grilled one pound of ground beef and a half pound of chorizo then added a can of diced tomatoes, a can of spaghetti sauce and some salsa. Being lazy, I added four packages of 90 second rice to that mix. I then partially cooked the peppers in a covered bowl for one minute per pepper. I then added the mix stuffing the peppers and surrounding them with the remainder of the mix. They were then returned to the microwave for another minute per pepper. Done and delicious.

Sunday: (07/06) I re-potted a couple of the yard planters. I needed to add some drain rock at the bottom of the pots so they drain properly. I did two that had plugged themselves entirely but they all need to be done eventually. I was also busy scrubbing the RV roof today. I'm preparing to reseal the rubber roof. Leftover stuffed bell peppers for breakfast. A corned beef and cheese sandwich for lunch. Dawn made some homemade pesto added to some gnocchi for dinner.

Monday: (07/07) Lou had an appointment this afternoon. Leftover stuffed bell peppers for breakfast. Lunch at the Country Inn, a shared wild mushroom omelet with Swedish Pancakes and bacon. Grilled corned beef and cheese sandwiches for dinner.

Tuesday: (07/08) I relaxed much of the morning but around noon, I finally went outside to work on the RV Roof. Another good scrubbing. When that dried I gave it a couple of coats of sealer. Donuts for breakfast. Lou had a waffle with fruit. Leftover bell peppers for lunch. Penne noodles with egg plant and BBQ ribs for dinner.

Wednesday: (07/09) I removed the rest of the neighbors tree next to the RV this morning and spent much of the rest of the day getting it chopped up and into the compost barrels. The main trunk I cut into 18 inch sections for later disposal or splitting for firewood. They are too big (18" diameter) to be placed into the compost bin. I also finished the RV roof clean and seal job by reinstalling the roof vent covers. Leftovers for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Thursday: (07/10) Lou had an appointment today. We relaxed at home all morning. We stopped for lunch at th Country Inn on the way home. Leftovers for breakfast and dinner.  We decided to get away for a few days before i leave so i was busy trying to make reservation for a campsite someplace. Not much luck finding anyplace in any California State Park through the summer.

July 4th

Friday: (07/04) Leftovers for breakfast. Our holiday meal was BBQ wieners and sausage over a nice fire in the backyard. After cooking over some good apricot wood, I then burned all my junk wood collected from redoing the siding and fence in San Jose. It was nice that today was n OK to burn day. Made nice hot dogs served with deviled eggs, potato salad, fresh salsa with tomatoes from our garden. Dinner was a corned beef sandwich while Lou and Dawn had the same without the bread.

PCT, First 15 Days Video

I didn't know it but my new camera takes a short video clip just before each picture taken, These are combined into a daily video by the camera. This video is a collection of the 15 daily videos for the first 15 days of my PCT hike. Since I didn't realize it was filming, my feet are often the subject of the film. It still gives an interesting glimpse of the hike.

Four Open Spaces Hike

Thursday: (07/03) Today I lead a nine mile hike through four open space preserves at the top of Page Mill Road. Normally my hikes are on Fridays but last week there was a conflict with another hike so mine was on Thursday. Today, the conflict is the holiday tomorrow, so another Thursday hike.

Monte Bello, Skyline, Russian Ridge, and Coal Creek Open Space Loop

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near San Jose, California

This is a popular loop hike through the Monte Bello Ridge, Skyline Ridge, Russian Ridge and Coal Creek Open Space Preserves above Palo Alto. The loop is a moderate 9 mile hike including several short hill climbs. On this hike the temperature was in the mid 80's but the slight breeze and abundant dispersed shade helped make for a nice hike. We had 20 hikers for the hike. With rather clear skies, our views were good both inward to the San Francisco Bay and outward to the Pacific Ocean. The water of the ocean was covered with some low lingering fog though.

In the evening I started processing photos that I've taken for the past few months. More work to be done but I did discover that my new camera makes a little movie comprised of a short video segment at about the time each picture is taken. It combines them into a daily movie. I now must be more careful to point the camera longer before I snap a photo to keep from seeing my shoes so often. I sort of remember now making such a setting when I setup the camera. Modern toys are so interesting. Here is today's video.

 

I fixed hotdog hash for breakfast. I had my usual trail tuna salad and crackers on the hike. We met Cecilia and Courtney at Harry's Haufbrau in Redwood City for dinner.

A San Francisco Walk-About

Wednesday: (7/02) If all went well, I'm enjoying a visit to San Francisco today. Starting with a train wide up to the city, followed by a wandering to be determined walking path through the city and then a late return.

Itching To Go

Tuesday: (07/01) I took Dawn to an early appointment then returned home. Lou and I went out to lunch at Joanie's Restaurant and shared a spinach hamburger omelet, the daily special. They serve outstanding muffins which today was a banana muffin. We stopped by the Grocery outlet and picked up a few things on the way home.  When we got home we had tea in the back yard. I met Dawn at noon and took her to another appointment. On the way I stopped at the Dim Sum King in Sunnyvale for some pork footballs and shrimp balls, my lunch. Dawn got a salad at Subway before I dropped her off at another appointment. I then visited REI to browse and picked up some socks, a new pocket knife and a sleeping bag. I used a quilt for the first part of the hike but it is only good to 30 degrees, and then is stretched a little making for a slightly chilly nights rest. The new bag is a mummy bag, is just as light and and is rated to 19 degrees. A little laundry work completed the day. Lou had started a corned beef roast in the slow cooker this morning and we had it for dinner with baked tatters and corn on the cob. Courtney joined us for dinner.

Lou has been released from some of her restrictions. She is now allowed to walk a little more so we can get around more. If all goes well, she is on the way to be able to drive soon and I may be able to get out of here and back on the trail at the end of the month? Yesterday I ordered a spare set of hiking shoes. I'll try to give them a couple of local hikes to break them in before I leave. They will then be ready for Lou to mail to me wherever.