Time to Get Ready

Wednesday: (06/15) A nice sunny day this morning. However, there is a winter storm in Northern California. Above is a photo of Dawn’s new book reader stand that Lou made. I plan on restarting my PCT hike this Sunday in Northern California. Specifically I’ll restart in Dunsmuir and hike toward Lake Tahoe.  While it’s raining now with possible snow in the mountains it will be in the 90′s next week. Hopefully it’s timed to not be too hot nor too dry in this section. Lou made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. She and Dawn had an appointment in the late morning. When I checked on the RV repairs this morning they said it was out on a test drive and they’d confirm if we could pick it by 1330, the must go time to get there before they close. They were a little late in calling but we were on the road assuming it would be a go. I enjoyed leftover enchiladas for my lunch, Lou and Dawn had to eat on the road. We picked the RV up a little after 1530 hooked up the jeep and headed toward home. After about 9 miles we decided to turn back to the shop. The engine was running rough and wont idle. A mechanic was still there and wiggled some wires and it appeared to be OK. There was also a missing nut on a rear tire valve extension. They didn’t have one for the one they lost so said they’d get one and mail it to us. Good enough. We headed toward home again.  We stopped for dinner in Tracy at the Golden Corral Buffet again. Afterwards we took a walk. We gave the sun time to disappear below the horizon to make the trip home easier. The engine still has a bad idle. When we arrived home it really was bad belching black smoke. Seems like maybe the choke is not working properly possibly causing the bad idle as well. Now that we have it home we’ll get that fixed here. We don’t want another month in the shop. It’s already spent two months in the hop this year. At least it’s home now.

Thursday: (06/16) Granola for breakfast. I spent the morning searching for a good Workhorse engine electrician to work on the RV engine problem. I don’t have confidence that anyone who’s worked on it so far can fix this engine problem. I checked with our car mechanic but they can’t work on something that big. They referred m to the shop that works on the Mountain View school buses. I visited their shop and they have a nice looking shop without a bunch of unfixed vehicles in the yard. the yard was full of too many buses for them to get to it before next week. Unfortunately I’ll be gone then so I’ll see them when I get back from my PCT hike. That means Lou and Dawn won’t be camping out along my route. They may come out to visit me though. Lou was out doing the grocery shopping and Ernie had a job for me trouble hooting his macerator. It burnt up its brushes and fused them to their mounts. Time for a new macerator. I also had a leaky hose for our gray water from the shower to fix. After that I got busy on my resupply box stuffing. We all went to to lunch at LUU Noodle House. I picked up supplies and started stuffing. I probably have another day to complete that but probably won’t be able to work on it much tomorrow. So, I bought my train ticket to Dunsmuir this evening leaving Sunday Evening. Lou made corn on the cob with roast beef and baked potatoes for dinner.

Friday: (06/17) Granola for breakfast. We all headed up to San Francisco for the day with stops at thrift stores and Target on the way. Dawn and I explored the Haight Ashbury area. Dawn visited Amoeba Books and I looked around the interesting shops. Lou was busy with a meeting. We had lunch at Escape From New York Pizza. Slices of a nice garlic potato pesto pizza. The return trip was much the same. Dinner was roast beef onion and cheese sandwiches.

Saturday: (06/18) I was up early and continued preparing my resupply boxes. I prepared a list of what I needed and headed out to the stores to get supplies. A late breakfast of cheddar wieners and fried potatoes. I managed to fill my resupply boxes and load my new backpack. Then I had to adjust the new pack to fit. I hope it’s OK. Another new piece of equipment is a new set of hiking poles. I got a set that folds up into sections half the length of my old poles, Now I can stow them more easily when not hiking. Tomorrow evening I catch the train up to Dunsmuir again to start my hike this time heading South. It’s scheduled to leave San Jose at 2043 but usually runs late. I should arrive in Dunsmuir about 0500. Hopefully I get some sleep on the train. Since I’ll be leaving tomorrow, Lou and Dawn took me out for a Father’s Day diner at the Country Inn tonight. Unfortunately I won’t be starting my hike until Monday morning just as the weather is getting really hot up there. The timing is unfortunate because tomorrow is Hike Naked Day and I’ll miss it. Darn!