Early-rise-town-day. Everybody got up and ready before 0700. We hiked down into the valley to hitch a ride into South Lake Tahoe. It wouldn’t take long before a gentleman in his Porsche pulled over, ready to take four of the six of us into the direction of town. There are several ‘hubs’ around the big lake, and though he was not heading to the Eastern area of the lake where we wanted to go, he dropped us off near the bus-stop. Rocket, Photo-op, Snow-White waited for 5 minutes and I hopped onto the bus. In the mean time we learned that Jukebox and Pops had also gotten a hitch and were also on their way.
We quickly settled for a bistro like restaurant at one of the patios of the many, many restaurants in this touristy town. It is a popular Ski-resort, and with Nevada’s border pretty much crossing through the town there are a bunch of casino’s around.
I ordered a breakfast omelette and as usual it was gone within the blink of an eye. Pops, Jukebox and were going to share a room at one of the many inns, but check-in would not be till 1500. Because there’s a 2-day concert of Keith Urban in town on Saturday and Sunday, the place was flooded with cowboys and cowgirls and it was real crowded on the streets. The hikers gathered later at Starbucks and I had my first ‘Nitro Cold-Brew’, very hipster cold coffee from a tap, with a cascara-foam topping. Good stuff. After chilling out in the sun and calling with my buddy Milo, we decided to head down-town. At BaseCamp Pizza, PCT hikers are offered free pizza! Always time for free food. We got seated at the bar and watched the summer crowds pass by. Pizza was good!
There were some minor afternoon thunderstorms, but nothing too crazy. We walked through a light drizzle to the Inn and when we arrived a little before 1500 (opportunistic, they might have our room available early) we learned that we really had to wait. Not wanting to waste time we decided to get our resupply done instead. I bought 9 days worth of food, of which I will carry 4 days to Sierra City. The rest I will ship in a resupply box to pick up there. That should get me into Belden some 200 miles from here. After resupply we got the room keys and I finally got to shower. Rejuvenated all of us chilled out in the hotel for some time. Then it was time for dinner. At this a place called GunBarrel we had a great meal, after which Pops went out on his own, charging the casino with a winner-attitude. I grabbed a milkshake for desert and Jukebox and I went to the hotel, set on getting ‘movie-night’ started.
It took us about an hour to decide on which flick to watch on Netflix, but we finally settled on The Titan with Sam Worthington. After about 15 minutes of watching the movie, Jimmy came back from the Casino. He didn’t win. He told us he’d already seen the movie we were watching, so that hour-long search was for all for naught. We ended up settling for Jurassic Park. Even after having seen that flick a bunch of times already before, it didn’t disappoint. As always it was great. We had a blast repeating one of the Jeff Goldblooms phrases that kept returning in the movie, and taught us a valuable lesson; “Life finds a way…”. After midnight it was time for bed and I can say that I definitely did all in my power to recharge my battery for the following stretch. Big days through Northern California coming up. Exciting!
I got troubles, Lord, but not today
”Cause they’re gonna wash away
They’re gonna wash away
And I have sins, Lord, but not today
‘Cause they’re gonna wash away
They’re gonna wash away
And I had friends, Lord, but not today
‘Cause they done; washed away
They done; washed away
And oh, I’ve been cryin’
And oh, I’ve been cryin’
And oh, no more cryin’
And oh, no more cryin’ here
And we got lonely, Lord, but not today
‘Cause we gonna wash away
We gonna wash away
And I got troubles, Lord, but not today
‘Cause they’re gonna wash away
This old heart is gonna take them away
Wash Away – Joe Purdy
