Starts with a big breakfast.
We are in yet another mountain town. Oddly enough one mountain town resembles most mountain towns. Think Truckee, Tahoma, Mariposa. Don't think Tahoe - that is too nose to nose touristy. For all of you non-Californians think small-town quiet and slow. Wrightwood is built amongst the lodgepole pines. The lilac trees are blooming like crazy and they are everywhere. Quail aren't afraid to live in the front lawns of peoples houses.
Dirty girl keeps nagging at me to tell you about another corner she turned a couple of days ago. Silverwood Lake, pretty enough to be mistaken for a downsized Norwegian fjord setting. The lake was huge and nestled at the feet of small sized mountains jutting into its' peaceful Waters.
This lake was created by a dam which by normal standards are not this beautiful. Dirty girl, tidy camper and topo stood beneath the other side of this dam, a 200 foot wall of boulders which was not at all pretty. One side exquisite,one side gray and barren. Kind of like everything.
Southern California's impressing the hell out of dirty girl. The five Saints are here: San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, San Gabriel, San Felipe, and one more. These are impressive mountains worthy of being called Saints.
In her search and observations of kindness dirty girl is not being disappointed. Yesterday friends of topo's drove one and a half hours from Pasadena to meet the dirty group at a place where the trail intersects a highway. They drove them into Wrightwood where the Motely Crue (Pasadenians not included) are staying at topo's girlfriends family cabin. After dinner Chris and Lisa drove the hour and a half back to Pasadena. The three hikers were no fun at all. As usual after a 10 or 11 hour day of stairmaster workouts they could only stare into the distance and wonder where they were and who these women were. Beer seems to revive topo and bring her back. Nothing really revives dirty girl and tidy camper just sways in the breeze. A lot of yesterday's hike took place in the jetstream. The winds were strong enough to ground all birds. Apparently topo loses her mind in strong winds and refuses to go where the map tells her. Dirty girl becomes slightly maniacal, railing against the wind screaming, "Is that it? Is that all you have for me"? Dirty girl thrives on excitement and adversity, sticking her chest out like she's some kind of bloodthirsty Braveheart. She has been knocked senseless a number of times. Perhaps that's the problem. Tidy camper, not really fond of strong winds is just happy she's cool and not hot. Her relationship with the wind is changing. Her relationship with being dirty is not. Just this morning Dirty Girl caught her washing part of her sleeping bag. Dirty girl was speechless.
Dirty Girl's theory, the one she is testing on this trip, that humans are basically good and their initial impulse is one of kindness and helpfulness, is gaining more support every day. This morning walking back from breakfast by herself she got a little lost. (this is very normal) She asked somebody where Lodgepole Avenue was and she discovered two things, no, three things : people will go out of their way to help you; her cellphone angst maybe on the way to being solved; where Lodgepole Ave was. Her cellphone angst is this - people talk to machines and not to each other. This morning she realized that if she never has a cell phone she'll just go up to someone who has one, talk to them and then they have to talk back to her. She gets to benefit from their technology and talk to them. (PS this from tidy camper she is using a cell phone to create this blog-but don't tell her)
She can communicate with people with cell phones by looking them directly in the eye and asking the question, then watch them while they use their cell phones, and wait for them to look at her and relay the information. In that brief moment of eye contact there may be a chance for a soul to soul rub-a-dub-dub. DG will keep you updated.
TC gets her 1st of several b-day massages, starting a day before May Day.
Can you believe the finish to this day?
No comments:
Post a Comment