Day 43: No Man's Land

(Mile 607.5 to 627.5 = 20 miles)

Lizard stake.

Well, we hit desert again.  I suppose I would have known this had I looked ahead at the map; but I generally take each day as a surprise.  And surprised I was.  We spent most of the day roasting in the sun.  And I spent most of the morning trying to clear my head of "country girl, shake it for me girl, shake it for me girl, shake it for me."  Yes, seriously.  (It's one if our Jazzercise tunes!)  It was a hard, lonely day.

We catch up by jogging down hills.

The day was made hard by a slow, somewhat frustrating morning that started a little later than normal and was broken up by frequent stops for water and chores.  By noon we only had 7.5 miles in.  (12 by noon is great; 10 by noon is solid; 7.5 by noon is disconcerting.)  And by noon we realized we would be in the heat all day tackling rolling, shadeless, monotonous terrain.  Did I mention we had to carry water for 28 miles?  Ugh.  And then there was that country song and my dead mp3 player and PowerMonkey on the fritz.  

Going to miss the desert colors.

The day was made lonely by only seeing Shutterburst once for about 2 minutes all day.  We did not see another hiker on the trail today.  We read the register, and there is a crew of folks ahead of us, and Shutterburst said yesterday that there were about 20 camped at the water stop behind us.  But today, we saw practically no one.  And then there was that country song.

I love these desert sunsets.

Fortunately, Gumby charged my mp3 player at an afternoon break, and I was able to clear my head for awhile.  And the heat broke as dusk rolled in and gave us another brilliant desert sunset.  We are now camped on a ridge behind a juniper.  The perfect temperature and the perfect amount of wind.  (I've found that I sleep better in the wind.)  We were able to pull off 20 miles despite our morning.  The day ended well.  I looked ahead, and we should get a break from the desert tomorrow.  And, if my calculations are right and all is well for him, Kindergarten Cop should be catching up any day now.  Did I mention bright pink is my new favorite color?  Sigh.  Way too much time alone! 

Freakish hand tan - that's for you, Mel!