Still July 21

Another lovely spring. Cold and delicious. 

What a fabulous day this has been. There  have been no huge climbs or descents. We've been traversing hills all day. Most of all the temperature has been perfect, even cold at times. Davis the friend we stayed with in Weed kept raving about this part of the trail and initially when FC heard him she thought he might be biased or slightly exaggerating. Well Davis, you were right FC and TC are loving this. They hiked up to Porcupine Lake and while FC swam naked with the fish, TC soaked her feet. FC is now in direct communion with Shasta. She feels the presence of that mountain even when she can't see it. Everything all the weirdos in this place say about Mt. Shasta might be true. FC is coming back. The lakes are warm, and mainly deserted. A sacred mountain, warm lakes, and a health food store. Perfect.

       FC heard a trail name today that she loves. It's not hers and she's not stealing it but...someone's name is Masshole. He is from Massachusetts. People from Vermont and Conneticut call tourists from  Massachusetts "Massholes". It is a derogatory name but everyone seems OK with it. FC definitely likes it.

      Today we ended up getting rain, wind and thunder clouds. All in all a stellar day. We put in our 20 miles but were cut short by the weather. Our new tent kept us dry. We stopped at 6:00 ish, unheard of in the last few weeks. 

First use of TCs cuben fiber space poncho. 

     Here is a sample of some new trail names that have passed us by: Why Not, married to Balance, Blanca, Young Oak(handsome young Frenchman), Free refill (a crazy German)), Iceman travelling with Snowman, Slo Bro, Baggins, Cheese(loves cheese), Soap box, Pedicure, Firestarter, Dust Devil, Iron Mike (had to go to urgent care for fluids. Got way dehydrated), Hemlock, Peru, Soft Egg (given to him by Free Refill because he thought he was a wus and wouldn't push himself mileage wise) Kaiser (this is how he would pronounce the Caesar of a Caesar salad) Off The Rails, And more. We are stil being passed dAily by new people. The only two people we have passed were slightly disabled. We are getting faster but so is everyone else and they were faster to begin with. 

      One short happening to leave you with : FC was walking with her poncho on. She had her hood on since it was raining. She stopped suddenly on the trail because she heard some voices in the valley below her. She turns around expecting to see TC, instead she sees a young man with a blond patchy beard, eyeglasses and a lovely long deep forest green poncho on. FC's poncho is very short. She looked into his eyes not startled or afraid and said, "I hear voices down there". He replied in an unrecognizable accent (too few words to discern),"I hear them also", and that was it. FC moved aside and let him pass. His eyes were so peaceful and welcoming. FC did not know him but she felt intimately connected to him. Like he was every person she had ever loved. TC was there too but she was behind the young man. As she looked at him questions started to form  like what was his name and where was he from but they were so unnecessary. In that one calm instance she recognized all eyes in his eyes.