Day 97 — July 23rd

Hello everyone, this is Joy. Today is Friday and I got home from visiting Ron and Kendra at 1:30am this morning. It was a long, long travel day yesterday and I had plane troubles from Denver to Cincy. Cody’s plane was delayed too, going back to Louisville. I’m glad this all happened on our way home and not on our way out there! But more importantly, everyone got home safely.

First, I’d like to share my thoughts and observations of Ron and Kendra. They actually looked better than I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, they were both thin, but they looked strong and they said they both felt good and strong. The break from hiking the last few days definitely helped Kendra’s knees. We were fortunate enough to rent a house so we cooked a lot of their favorite foods. Ron was craving spaghetti with sauce and veggies. Kendra was craving just junk food. Well, she did buy a watermelon and many different blended drinks and kombucha’s, but I did see her eating ice cream for breakfast one morning, with a White Claw! So, it was very good to see that the hikers are doing well!!!

The house we rented had a washer/dryer and a bathtub, so we did lots of gear cleaning. Actually, all gear got cleaned. Backpacks and tents got soaked in the bathtub, and everything else was put in the washer. Trust me,,,, everything needed a deep cleaning!

Yesterday morning (Thursday), we dropped the hikers off at Old Station, CA, where we picked them up at a gas station. There were actually many hikers there, at that time in the morning (at 8am). Many of them arrived the night before after getting shuttled around the Dixie fire that evacuated a popular town where the hikers had stopped and resupplied. So, those hikers got to skip some miles on the PCT, but that is just how it goes each year with fires. Kendra was kinda bummed that she did not get to skip those miles, lol, as they were very difficult miles!!

Even with us dropping them off at 8am and saying our goodbyes, it looks like they still got in 20 miles yesterday. (Oh, and Kendra is now wearing her own Garmin, so I was able to see her tracking last night too. So, Ron shouldn’t get lost anymore :)) I’m not sure how hot it was for them yesterday, but in the town we stayed in, it was over 100 degrees each day (104 degrees, actually). And Ron mentioned that their first 10 miles was going to have no shade and not much water available.

They stopped last night right before the 1400 mile marker which means they are approximately 291 miles away from the State of Oregon. And Oregon is ‘only’ 456 miles long! I just realized I’m way behind in marking their progress on the Tracking tab, so I just updated this past weeks progress. (I retired recently, and you’d think I’d have more time, but I’m busier than ever!)

As of right now, we’ll be watching 2 to 3 (smaller) fires to see if the PCT trail will be impacted, in California. Oregon doesn’t appear to have any major fires going on. Washington State is a mess right now, but it’s way too early for us to be concerned with Washington, since things change quickly. As Ron’s daily saying is they are ‘taking one day at a time’!!

I’m terrible on taking pictures and Cody said he forgot to take photo’s too, but I’ll share a few with you. The lady who owned the house that we rented suggested that we go to the Whiskeytown Lake, which was about 8 miles away from the house. It is a huge huge lake made by the Whiskeytown Dam, and the water is crystal clear. We spent an afternoon there, and as you can see, with the mountains around, it was a beautiful place. That’s all I have for now — everyone have a great weekend!