Our original plan was to leave first thing in the morning. That plan went out the door last night when we failed to pack up. We got up early, but were then occupied with packing, putting together boxes to ship elsewhere, playing with the dogs and then Buster started whipping up some French Toast. Mmmm... I had not eaten French Toast in a long time. That French Toast was tome pure off-trail magic. :) Thanks again Buster!
Finally, about 9am we quit stalling and asked Donna for a ride to the trailhead. It was sad saying good-bye to all our newly made friends and the dogs. The Saufley dogs - especially Buddy & Mikey had quickly become our pals. And then it was also sad to say goodbye to Donna. Although we were not able to spend a lot of time with Donna, her giving heart & generosity were beyond words. How do you thank someone for so much?
We were finally "off like a herd of turtles" as Tom would say. From the start, my head was not into the hike. On the first uphill, my quad muscle started to cramp up again. I was feeling weak & my pack felt heavy. I had new shoes, new socks & a new pack. I was really worried about how they would all work out. I was stuck with them at least for a week - no matter what.
All these worries and the sadness about leaving Aqua Dulce had my mind in a quandry. I managed to turn my ankle and tripped forward to the ground. Although not hurt, I was clearly not all with it. Tom did his best to cheer me up, but it was tough. It was the first time I had to hike when I did not feel like hiking.
Somehow we managed to keep on hobbling down the trail. Came to a wonderful cache by the Anderson's - "The Oasis" which is a random hole in some bushes with chairs, cooler of beer & pop, water and various decorations. It put a smile on my face. We didn't stay long since it was wet & cold, but we took a Sprite & beer "for the trail."
Caught up to Riff Raff and Jenny just as we got to San Francisquito Rd where trail angel, Terrie Anderson, just happened to be waiting for us.
Terrie drove us back to her home - known to thru hikers as Casa de Luna.
Transcriber's note: I convinced T&T that they couldn't miss stopping by Casa de Luna. Glad they changed their itinerary a bit!
We were given an official tour of the outdoor accommodations as well as the indoor accomodations. They have a huge side and backyard with space for more tents than I can imagine. The front of the house is decorated by huge sheets that hikers sign/decorate each year as well as Aloha shirts which we were required to be worn throughout our stay. And an outdoor hiker table (as opposed to the usual hiker box found in towns) had a random variety of used items that other hikers had left in case another hiker would need.
Photo blatently swiped from Joe Anderson's Face Book page. But how could I not include it? Classic goofy Tom and Tori's beautiful smile...
Inside, Terrie made the taco salad she makes for her hikers every night. We heard Joe and Terrie give their "how we became trail angels" story. The presentation is pure entertainment in itself.
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