(Mile 448 to the
Saufley's and my sister's! 454.5 + .9 =
7.4)
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| Vasquez Rocks! |
Well, this
morning we arrived at the Saufley's in Agua Dulce. This couple takes the term "trail
angels" to a new level. They have
tents with cots covering their backyard.
These are for hikers to overnight in -- up to 50 hikers. There is a single-wide mobile home just for
hikers -- this houses the community kitchen, shower, computer, and living
room. There is a laundry tent -- you put
your clothes in a laundry bag, grab the clothing you need to borrow from the
labeled totes, and they do your laundry for you. Towels are also here. The Saufley's garage is a mail room and
information booth. There is not a post
office in town. They will accept your
packages and send them out for you. The
crew of volunteers are stationed here.
They answer questions and give you the grand tour. It is a well-oiled machine. Did I mention they have loaner bicycles for
you to ride to town? And movies to
watch? And the most organized
"hiker boxes" you've ever seen?
(Each town has a "hiker box" where hikers ditch gear, food,
clothing they don't want and grab anything they do. It's a great place to find new food, socks,
TP, and random things you might need.
It's like the free box at a garage sale!)
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| Flinstones, anyone? |
However, we did
not stay at the Saufley's for long. No,
we had our own trail angel. My sister,
Paula, picked us up from Saufley's and treated us to a day in town and then a
night at her home. We had as much pasta
as we could eat, went shopping for food treats and essentials (inserts,
vitamins, socks), visited the mall (!) for smoothies, and then caught a
movie. Then she brought us home to
shower, laundry, repack our packs, pet her kitties, and eat a fantastic
home-cooked dinner. We were tucked into
bed with scented candles on the table and kitties standing guard. If I'm lucky, Scrubs will pay me a nighttime
visit (he already let me pet his belly -- you cat-lovers know what this means!) I smell amazing. And so do my clothes. And so does this house.
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| PCT underpass. |
Trail
angels. We could perhaps physically
survive without them (though just as likely not); but I know I could not
emotionally survive this without them.
They tend to our intangible needs as much if not more than our
tangible. (I desperately needed to pet
cats!) And nothing we do completely
repays them. I suppose this is a pay it
forward. I'll be keeping that in mind.
 |
Hiker tents and cots at the Saufley's.
|
 |
| Hiker boxes = free gear and food! |
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| Our trail angel, Paula. Thank you, Paula! |
TOO funny -- my sister is also a Paula...and she's also taller than I am. Ah, the fun little oddities of life! We celebrated Andi's and Jean's birthdays on Saturday -- frozen juice pops after class. We'll have to plan something really fantastic when you return to the Jazzercise fold! Also funny you should mention cats. I haven't been without at least one in probably the past 20 yrs (yikes!) and am currently the minion of one Lilah, a mini-Maine Coon type. I'm spending part of today helping a next-neighbor find a Persian, Himalayan, Ragdoll type cat to adopt (I think she's still worn out from fostering the two Burmese :-) Keep on truckin', y'all -- Love, Beth
ReplyDeleteVasquez Rocks! I don't know if you know the story for this area, but it was the hideout for a Mexican bandit named Vasquez just after the US took over California. It is also the place that hundreds of movie westerns from the very start of the film industry have been shot. Also many TV westerns and several Star Treks have also been shot there. Steve McQueen"s "Wanted Dead or Alive" TV show shot there a lot. At least twice when living at home we drove into the rocks and saw people shooting a film. One was a Disney film, but I don't remember the name. Lou
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lou! It was gorgeous! I am going to have to watch/rewatch a few movies when I return. I would have loved to have spent longer there ... perhaps on a return trip. Looked like a great place to ride!
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