This past Saturday (May 9) was the day I dropped Don off in Campo, then headed over to park the car at Lake Morena.
The plan was that Don would hike North from Campo to Lake Morena, and I would hike South from Lake Morena toward Campo then turn around where ever I met up with Don.
Shortly after crossing a road heavily used by Border Patrol, a thru-hiker sped past me headed North. Besides thinking he was going insanely fast and wondering how you'd keep up that pace for days on end, I didn't think much more of it.
A few moments later, I met up with Don. I turned around, and we continued North toward Lake Morena. Back on the Border Patrol road, the aforementioned thru-hiker sped by again, going in the wrong direction! I briefly thought he might be confused about where the trail branched from the road, but then he didn't stop to ask us for directions. And the trail was pretty well-signed. I did notice, however, that his about-face coincided with a parked Border Patrol truck. Don had also mentioned that he saw 3 illegal immigrants earlier that morning just ahead of him, and this supposed thru-hiker was also just ahead of him.
So I thought, "Is this guy helping out the illegals and posing as a thru-hiker??" The other option was that he was segment hiking, and doing an impressive 24-mile day (12 miles in and back). But I was very suspicious...
Fast forward to today. Don came across the same guy, and apparently he was just LOST. It turns out he really is a thru-hiker. And it gets even better - He was suspicious of us too!!! I can't imagine why! But then again, he was just a youngish white guy without an accent, so I really had no reason to suspect him either. I guess the overwhelming Border Patrol presence and seeing all the signs of illegals (discarded foot coverings used to avoid leaving shoe-prints) starts to mess with your head...
**********************************
Just heard back from Don about why the guy suspected us: "the guy said. so i see this asian woman walking the wrong way, then she somes back with a dude. suspicous, to him."
H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! But then, even the Border Patrol stopped me a few times!
There's a check-point on Hwy-8 between the Campo exit and the Laguna exit (where the lodge is). So we passed by this several times.
On one occasion, the guard noticed me in the passenger seat and motioned for us to stop.
BP Agent: "Are you US citizens?"
Don: "Yes."
BP Agent: "What about you?" (looking at me)...
And the morning I headed home, the guard was motioning everyone through without stopping them. When he saw me, he did a double-take and made me stop.
BP Agent: "Are you a US citizen?"
Me: "Yes."
BP Agent: (waving me thru) "Have a good day."
Me: "You too." (enunciating to emphasize my lack of accent and doing a mental eye-roll)
I'm very curious to know exactly what they're looking for. Anyone non-white??
Showing posts with label PCT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PCT. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Journal Update Suggestion
Tan suggested that Don write out his journal entry, use the camera built into his cell phone to take a photo of the piece of paper, then send the photo to me.
Sounds like a good idea, if the camera resolution is high enough.
Unfortunately, Don doesn't have a pen. He said maybe he could scratch it into the dirt.
Sounds like a good idea, if the camera resolution is high enough.
Unfortunately, Don doesn't have a pen. He said maybe he could scratch it into the dirt.
"Bathroom of the Glider Incident"
Don came across the following story while perusing the Postholer forums/journals. I wish I could find exactly where this came from so I could give proper credit to the author!
"The red alert came in while I was avoiding the worst of the afternoon sun under a tree. I dug my TP and fluorescent orange plastic trowel out of my pack and quickly headed perpendicular to the trail. It was obvious that I would need to cover some distance so as not to be visible from the trail. After trotting deep into the bush and digging a hole I was feeling pretty good about my trail defecation expertise.
I couldn't place the whooshing noise at first. It sounded like it was coming from the sky, but didn't sound like a plane. If it was a bird it would have to be huge. Plastic shovel in hand, I searched the sky for the intruder.
I can't be sure if the glider plane pilot saw me or not, but if he did, the scene was something like this: To the left, a guy shitting on the ground while waving a bright orange plastic shovel in the air - to the right, less than 100 yards away (but out of sight for the shitter), a porta-potty, the first civilized place to take a dump in over 110 miles of trail."
"The red alert came in while I was avoiding the worst of the afternoon sun under a tree. I dug my TP and fluorescent orange plastic trowel out of my pack and quickly headed perpendicular to the trail. It was obvious that I would need to cover some distance so as not to be visible from the trail. After trotting deep into the bush and digging a hole I was feeling pretty good about my trail defecation expertise.
I couldn't place the whooshing noise at first. It sounded like it was coming from the sky, but didn't sound like a plane. If it was a bird it would have to be huge. Plastic shovel in hand, I searched the sky for the intruder.
I can't be sure if the glider plane pilot saw me or not, but if he did, the scene was something like this: To the left, a guy shitting on the ground while waving a bright orange plastic shovel in the air - to the right, less than 100 yards away (but out of sight for the shitter), a porta-potty, the first civilized place to take a dump in over 110 miles of trail."
Cell Phone Issues
We got Don a fancy (and expensive!*) cell phone just for his PCT thru-hike - the LG enV 2 in Maroon (so pretty!). It has a QWERTY keyboard and email, so we thought he could use it to update his journal.
The plan: The Postholer journal is updateable via email, so Don would write his journal entry each day and save it as an email draft to be sent whenever he got Internet connectivity.
The reality: It seems like you can only access the email program when you have Internet connectivity. We haven't found a way to save a draft without Internet access! So Don's been condensing his thoughts into 160-character-limited text messages, and I have to attempt to reassemble them into journal entries. PITA! Especially if a text message gets lost, like it did the other day...
Another possibility that we haven't tried yet is for Don to write and save a note to his phone, then attach that note to an email for me to post. Ideas for more efficient work-arounds are more than welcome!
On the bright side, I've really been enjoying getting unexpected text messages from him! He just sent me a few, and I plan to post the pertinent info to his journal. The only drawback to all this texting is that I'm now finding myself thinking in terms of 160-character limits. Now I know why those stupid acronyms and abbreviations are so widely used.
*If you choose to inflict a 2-year contract upon yourself, the phone is $50 after rebate. However, if you choose contractual freedom, then you get to pay a whopping $280 before tax. Ouch. But when you consider the monthly plan cost of $55, it works out something like this:
$50 phone + 24 months @ $55 = $1370
$280 phone + 5 months @ $55 = $555
I don't know which you'd choose, but month-to-month made more sense for us.
The plan: The Postholer journal is updateable via email, so Don would write his journal entry each day and save it as an email draft to be sent whenever he got Internet connectivity.
The reality: It seems like you can only access the email program when you have Internet connectivity. We haven't found a way to save a draft without Internet access! So Don's been condensing his thoughts into 160-character-limited text messages, and I have to attempt to reassemble them into journal entries. PITA! Especially if a text message gets lost, like it did the other day...
Another possibility that we haven't tried yet is for Don to write and save a note to his phone, then attach that note to an email for me to post. Ideas for more efficient work-arounds are more than welcome!
On the bright side, I've really been enjoying getting unexpected text messages from him! He just sent me a few, and I plan to post the pertinent info to his journal. The only drawback to all this texting is that I'm now finding myself thinking in terms of 160-character limits. Now I know why those stupid acronyms and abbreviations are so widely used.
*If you choose to inflict a 2-year contract upon yourself, the phone is $50 after rebate. However, if you choose contractual freedom, then you get to pay a whopping $280 before tax. Ouch. But when you consider the monthly plan cost of $55, it works out something like this:
$50 phone + 24 months @ $55 = $1370
$280 phone + 5 months @ $55 = $555
I don't know which you'd choose, but month-to-month made more sense for us.
An Intro to the Blog
A friend (Tan!) suggested that I keep a blog while Don hikes the PCT. The posts would mirror his posts and provide a counterpoint to his entries. (<-- Totally plagiarizing Tan at this point; I'm not capable of so elegantly conveying my thoughts.)
I don't know how well this will work, since I'm currently translating Don's text messages into journal entries and adding any other information I know. So I'm not sure when some things might be more appropriate for this blog or his journal.
Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, well-wishes, or questions for both this blog as well as Don's journal.
And I'll try to pass along any messages to Don as well.
So far (all 4 days!) he's been able to get cell phone reception, but I'm guessing that'll come to an end at some point.
I don't know how well this will work, since I'm currently translating Don's text messages into journal entries and adding any other information I know. So I'm not sure when some things might be more appropriate for this blog or his journal.
Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, well-wishes, or questions for both this blog as well as Don's journal.
And I'll try to pass along any messages to Don as well.
So far (all 4 days!) he's been able to get cell phone reception, but I'm guessing that'll come to an end at some point.
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