Really Cleaning Up

Saturday: (04/30) I made ham and eggs to go with some leftover home fried potatoes for breakfast. I spent most of the day weeding and trimming plants in the flower beds and planters. Lunch was a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with avocado. On one of my breaks I scheduled a hike for this coming Friday at the Long Ridge OSP. It filled by early afternoon with it’s limit of 19 hikers. My dinner was some surplus chili Ernie had made. Very good.

Sunday: (05/01) Breakfast at Country Inn in Cupertino, a nice mushroom omelet and some Swedish pancakes. I then headed on down to San Jose to Dawn’ house. The tenant reported that the side yard fence had been hit and knocked down a couple of weeks ago. i finally got down to take a look. Not what I had envisioned. The front fence was OK. The rear fence was leaning a little. It had been hit but no material damage. I straightened it up and tightened the anchor bolts. Seems OK now. There was also a complaint of ants so I’ll be working on that later. I returned home via a visit to a big Fry’s Electronics store in Sunnyvale to browse at the big boy toys. On the way home I stopped for dim sum. When I got home I started work on the RV. I needed to replace the power connector but decided to also install the automatic transfer switch as well. I made a good stat on the project, more work tomorrow. For dinner I headed off to Super Taqueria in Sunnyvale for a super burrito.

Monday: (05/02) Spaghetti and meat balls for breakfast. I tried to be lazy and watched TV much of the morning. I finally got outside and worked on the RV. First order of business was to repair the deadbolt lock on the door which fell apart. Then I got busy on the installation of the generator transfer switch. That required a run to the hardware store to get parts. After testing the wiring, I fired it up and there was no fire, a good thing. It seems to work properly. I then tested the air conditioner and it is bad, the compressor stalls. i ordered a new one which should be here in a couple of days. Lou made pastrami sandwiches for lunch and salmon with asparagus and rice for dinner.

Tuesday: (05/03) Lou had an appointment in Mountain View this morning so Dawn and I hitched a ride with her. I dropped Lou off the delivered Dawn to the Post office then I went to a cheap gas station to fill the Jeep’s tank. I returned the Jeep to Lou’s location and then walked down to the Hong Kong Bakery for a pork bun and a egg tart for breakfast. Dawn also stopped by for her breakfast there. I then went on a walking tour of construction sites on the way home. Lou called a while later and said breakfast was almost done so I caught a bus home. French toast and sausage for breakfast about noon. I tinkered with a few things in the afternoon, finishing little. I replaced three of the remaining fluorescent light fixtures with LED fixtures in the bedroom  and drivers area of the RV. I looked in to replacing the radio in the RV and I troubleshot an sprinkler that isn’t working. It is a problem with a solenoid or wiring to the valve, something to dig into more tomorrow. Leftover Brussels’s sprouts for my dinner.

Wednesday: (05/04) Cookies for breakfast. We did our weekly grocery shopping this morning. Lou and Dawn took a walk down to California Avenue. I had chips and hummus for lunch. Dawn made some sticky rice pudding for dinner.

Thursday: (05/05) Granola for breakfast. I fixed a baseplate for the garage door to keep potential mice from moving into the garage. Shepherd’s pie for lunch. I bought some dehydrated meals from Packit Gourmet to try out for the trail. The Shepherd’s pie was pretty good though it was more effort and waste than my usual meals. Lou and Dawn were took a walk from Shoreline to Byxbee Park on the baylands. I waited around most of the day to receive some packages. The new air conditioner for the RV was one of them. With rain threatening, I decided to wait a couple of days to install it. Sticky rice with mangoes and a wiener  with cheese for dinner.

In Hot Water With Jokers And fools

Thursday: (04/28) I prepares a nice breakfast of smoked pork hops with home fried potatoes and eggs. Yum! I actually got to work on the water heater. i spent all morning disassembling it, cleaning off the old gaskets, installing the new pilot assembly, and reassembling it. It now works again. I’m actually impressed with GE. A good design and nice customer service. We have to replace our dishwasher soon and GE is now at the top of the list. I had a nice avocado, ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Lou and Dawn were out shopping. In the afternoon, I ordered some new power connectors for the RV. Several of the connectors are burnt from poor connections when running the air conditioner. That’s the first try for a repair of the air conditioner. For dinner I had some pepper fish and pork footballs form Dim Sum King in Sunnyvale. We stopped on the way to Campbell for a storytelling meeting by the Meetup: South Bay Story Tellers. The theme tonight was “Jokers and Fools” It was in a coffee shop at the Pruneyard. Dawn told one of her stories.

Picnic and A Birthday

Tuesday: (04/26) Happy birthday to me. Nice to have another one. Nice scrambled eggs with leftover hamburger and fresh salsa for breakfast. After breakfast in the back yard I setup the  RV water and drain lines so we could take our showers in it while we wit on the water heater repair. We headed off to a Open House/Picnic/Wake. One of my fellow organizers for hikes by San Jose Midweek Hikers has sold his house, bought a new motorhome and will be hitting the road full time in a few days. The open house was to look at his new toy. The picnic was lunch for the group and the wake was for loosing a good leader. On the way home we stopped at the Oakridge Mall and looked around. We had dinner at the New York Cheese Cake Factory enjoying a shared cheesecake and a shared shepherd’s pie, plenty for the three of us to share. Nice day.

Dave’s Ranch

 
Saturday:(04/23) Lou and I were up early as usual and took a morning walk.  A highlight was a bald eagle nest above one of the ponds.

 
Nice to be out early with the birds.

The original homesteaders cabin currently occupied by homesteadng rats.

 
**

 
There were a couple of geese by one of the ponds. Some of the canoes had to be retrieved from the depths of the pond.

 
During the day I took two walks with Dave on the roads and trails on the ranch. More folks from our Meetup hiking group arrived for the hikes and for lunch. Those of us that were camping went to dinner at The Junction Bar and Grill about a couple of miles from the ranch, the only business in the valley. We all tried to surprise Dave with a birthday cake for his recent birthday. Inside chat by fireplace in the evening, still cold outside. Caroline, one of the guest made chocolate chip cookies. A great day.

 
Sunday: (04/24) Leftovers for breakfast. Lou and I took walk and also took the jeep up to the ridge on one of the “roads”. Otherwise we prepared to leave and said goodbyes. Lou and I departed and were in Livermore by 1130. We took a walk and stopped for lunch at a taqueria. Then were were off to home. We tucked the RV into the drive way and settled in. For dinner we went to Sweet Tomatoes with Ernie and Cecelia.

 
Left looking down toward the runway from up the hill. The boys, Ryan and Riley were having fun with their RC truck and boat launching and retrieving the boat from the pond.

Panorama from the runway.

Off To The Ranch

Friday: (04/22) We were up early and took a walk around the RV park. After a final shopping trip we hooked up and prepared to leave. We met my brother Ernie in Gustine at the Andersen’s Pea Soup Restaurant where we had their namesake for lunch. Dawn went home with Ernie. I missed a turn to the ranch from I5 so we went on through Livermore and took Mines Road up to the ranch. We arrived at the ranch just before 1800. There was a BBQ going and Lou and I shared a steak for dinner. There were about 13 of us staying in RV’s, tents or in the house. It was rather cold so we ate inside the house, unlike we usually do. The campfire also was just the fireplace.

PCT Hike, MM664 To MM652, Feeling Better4

Thursday: (04/21) I was up at 0600 feeling better and on trail at 0715. I still didn’t feel like eating much. Good thing I felt better.

 
I started with a 1000 foot climb followed by another 2000 foot climb then a long descent down to the road.

There was trail magic at the Walker Basin campground where I enjoyed an orange, a tangerine and an apple. I also enjoyed some water so I didn’t need to drink the radio active water. Lou picked me up shortly and we returned to Bakersfield. We went to the China Town Buffet for dinner. I wanted some hot and sour soup and veggies. I enjoyed a long shower, the hot tub, and we were ready to roll.

PCT Hike, MM676 to MM664, A Sick Day

Wednesday: (04/20) I got sick during the night. I was on trail at 0645. Couldn’t eat anything all day.

 
Nice trail today except that it involved a 1000 foot climb.

  
Even some flowers. On the down side of the mountain today it was more desert like.

 
I stopped early before at 1600 too tired to walk more than 25 feet with a long rest before continuing. I just had no energy. I setup my cowboy camp at MM694 and took an hour nap. I felt better so I walked down to the spring near where I stopped. No problem. This spring is condemned “not for human consumption” due to uranium in the water. It’s still water and really not a problem for such limited use as a couple of liters of water. I just wanted it in case I needed to camp another night. There is no water further down the trail. Hiking back up to my camp was a effort even though I was only carrying 2 liters of water and no pack. I had good 4G signal I so updated Facebook. But, for some reason, I couldn’t make a phone call? Greg from San Jose a Nobo (Northbound) through hiker camped near me arriving at 1950.

PCT Hike, MM692 to MM676, A Day To Meet Northbouders

Tuesday: (04/19) I enjoyed a nice moonlit night.

Near the top of the climb this morning I met four of the group of five. Runaway, Viking, Woody, and Skywalker. Then following right behind them was Lux, all hikers I met on the last day before highway 178, my last segment. I also met a section hiker Art. later in thee day I met a father and daughter out on a day hike near Canebrake Rd. And finally I met Bluefeather who is completing his 6 year section hike with this as his last segment. Today’s trail continued through many miles of burnt forest. Eventually it entered a nice forest for the second 8 miles of today’s hike.

Panoramic view near the top of the climb.

 
Some nice forest and a horse trough. The trough is at Fox Mill Spring. I actually used the trickle from the creek behind the trough.

 
Saw some horny horned toad lizards along the way. I camped at MM676.

PCT Hike, MM704 to MM692, Flip From Kennedy Meadows.

Monday: (04/18) Corned beef hash leftovers and eggs for breakfast. We drove up Kern Canyon on Highway 178 then took Canebrake Road, a dirt road North to Kennedy Meadows Road, a paved road, then on up to Kennedy Meadows.

We had lunch of car snacks at Kennedy Meadows campground which is mile 704 of the PCT.

 
I was on the trail at 1115. I met Cody and Mathew, the Auzies just about 4 miles down trail. I had last seen them at Hikertown.

 
The trail starts across Kennedy Meadows and beside the South Fork of the Kern River for about 4 miles then leaves the river and proceeds over fairly nice rolling trail through a valley ending with a long climb out of the valley.

 
I camped about midway up. I hiked 13 miles today stopping at at MM692.

R and R and Resupply

Sunday: (04/17) Lou made some nice corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. i spent the morning organizing photos and posting to this blog and Facebook for my hiking friends. I prepared some food for this next section while Lou and Dawn did laundry. About 1400 we went to the Golden Corral Buffet for lunch.dinner. For some reason I didn’t even feel stuffed , as usual, when leaving. I loaded my pack an threw it in the jeep. All ready to rol in the morning. It’s a 2 hour and 23 minute drive to Kennedy Meadows.

I think I now stand at 1353 miles completed with 1313 to go. Passed the halfway point now.

PCT Hike, MM630 to MM652

 
Saturday: (04/16) I was up at 0600 and on trail at 0710. Nice morning, no wind and warmer. The car camper got up as i was leaving. He’s goal was a day hike up to the peak on the same trail I was headed up.

 
He passed me at my rest stop 2.5 miles up. I met more hikers today than any other day these past couple of weeks. I also met “Lux” who passed me at my rest stop. Further up the trail I met Runaway who started at mexico on 3/18. He is part of a group of five that started individually but have been hiking together as a group much of the way. “Woody” said they were doing 26 mile days. I stopped for lunch and “Woody” and “Runaway” passed me. I had passed them without noticing them. The rest of the group of five also passed me at lunch. “Viking” from Norway, Marina from Menlo Park, “Bison” a section hiker and her dog Tiger trailname “Clint Eastwood”, the silver fox. She was a friend of “Vikings” and doing from Jawbone Road to Walker Basin (Hwy 178). “Skywaker” from Sweden was the last of the five (six).

 
Near the top of today’s hike I met Holly and “Asterisk” to Southbound flip hikers who were blocked by a snow storm at Cajon Pass like I was last year so just went up to Kennedy Meadows and started South back to Cajon Pass.

 
I arrived at Highway 178, Walker Basin MM652, at 1845. I had texted Lou at the top of the mountain saying I’d be here by 1900. She drove up about 10 minutes later. It was a long winding road back to Bakersfield. I changed clothes and we went out to Milt’s Diner for dinner. Thinking about their deep pit BBQ dinner helped me make today’s 22 mile section. When I got home the long shower was welcome, not just by me.

This finishes this 85 mile section of the hike. Just 52 more miles to do. I’m thinking of doing a flip, my first, and starting at Kennedy Meadows and hiking back to Highway 178. That should make Lou’s picking me up easier on Thursday next week. We need to depart toward home Friday.

PCT Hike, MM612 to MM630

 
Friday: (04/15) I was up early and on trail about 0700. I left before Jens but he passed me a mile or so later. He said he was planning on doing 32 miles today.

 
I last saw him at the water cache at Kelso Rd. The trail changed from a nice forest where I started into treeless chaparral desert. My cache at Kelso wasn’t needed. There was plenty of water in the maintained cache. The trail from Kelso Road was mostly desert chaparral but surprisingly had some nice forested areas as well.

 
As I was taking a break, a day hiking local girl passed by. At Bird Spring Road, MM630, where I camped and had left 6 gallons of water, I probably only needed one gallon. I was settled in for the night and an ATV passed by and i heard “hello” so I said “hello” back. No response. Later “Tonka” came by my tent. He is a Southbound hiker. He had said hello to the ATV’er, not to me and was unheard. He came over to my tent and I poked my head out and he talked for about 30 minutes. Must have been lonely. I finally had to pull my head inside the tent and talk from inside. He used some of my extra water. About 930pm a car drove up and a car came and spent the night with us.