May 19-21 - Hanging out in Idyllwild

After a wonderful day/evening of hanging out with friends, everyone left the next day. Tom and I were sad to see our new friends leave and head back out on the trail. We wanted so bad to join them, but knew Tom's feet weren't up for the challenge. So, the next 3 days have been spent lying around camp - reading and napping - with occasional walks around town to the PO, gear store, and grocery store. It kills us to waste time doing nothing. We tried to use the internet at the library (which is only open every other day). But wouldn't you know it - the internet went down as soon as we walked in. We have been using the computers in the coffee shop instead - but they are slow and one of the computers the shift key doesn't work. But we are making do.

We have met some other cool hikers that have come and gone over the last couple of days. We were blessed to meet the legendary Stitch who spent the night at the campground. He left Campo in Mid-April and just arrived in Idyllwild. The joke is - no one ever sees him hiking, he usually is lying on the side of the trail taking a nap. The guy is definitely hiking his own hike, but is funnier than all get out. We found out that the cane Tom found in the hiker's box in Warner Springs was actually Stitch's. Guess Stitch had a broken ankle which is now "healing". He still walks with a limp, but doesn't want to use the cane. We've also met up with Todd from CA, Bluebird and Buster from the East Coast, Gance from Boulder, Michael from New Zealand, George, and ran into Peter who we had previously met up with in Julian.

We are planning on hitching back to the Paradise Cafe this evening - camping again behind the restaurant and then heading back out on the trail early tomorrow. We're going to try decreasing the daily mileage to help Tom's blisters/shin splints fully heal. We'll be stopping back in Idyllwild in hopefully 2 days - just in time for the Memorial Day Pancake breakfast. :-)