The deal was if we could see the tendons in the foot and the Frankenstein ankles then we would leave Wrightwood that night at 5. After ice and elevation the Foot God released us and we hitched a ride to Inspiration Pass. Our plan was to go about 2-4 miles and ease the foot back to work. Point 6 miles in, we saw Super Girl and a couple random trail runners down at the first campsite and knew we were not going any further. Ten minutes later the Israelis, Karate Kid and John Wayne showed up. They HAD planned to hike a couple miles too. The next day we hiked out with our new gang and ended up meeting the fastest old man with a knee injury named trail hacker on the way up to Baden Powel. Four miles straight up steep countless switchbacks later, we finally made it up to Wally; a 1500 yr old twisted tree perched at the very top. Wally welcomed us with open roots and we sat there for a while soaking in the mountain peaks and sunlit desert. The next couple days were spent going through the yellow frog and poodle dog bush(skin irritant plant) detours. The endangered species detour wasn't to bad but the poodle dog bush consisted of road walking 20 miles in the wide open heat. That night we camped with our biggest group yet with Super Girl, Karate Kid, John Wayne, Day Man, Day Walker, Stride, Castle, and Trail Hacker. John Wayne made his usual fire and we enjoyed our hot meals with wild onions Trail Hacker found around camp. The day after the burn area we were all looking forward the KOA campsite. We had been alerted by our friends days ahead, that a swimming pool and ice cream awaited us just 8 miles down. Our feet grew wings and we flew down the Mt. in a few hours. When we arrived we were surprised to see Day Walker leaving so soon. From the looks of the long dusty road and trailer park it didnt look very appealing, but if you looked beyond less then a quarter mile up a small hill, there was lushess green grass, picnic tables, shady trees, a crystal blue pool, hot tub and a small store with delicious goodies. We rolled in around 9:30, dropped our bags at the nearest pinic table and ran to the store like excited childern. Vanilla Hagan Dazz bars were to be inhaled immediately! We asked the lovely miss Chelsey at the front desk how much it would be to use the shower and jump in the pool, she just smiled and said go ahead. WOOHOO! At 10:00 in the morning we were doing cannon balls and pencil dives into the cool refreshing water. The hot tub was an added bonus and our sore muscles thanked us later. 12:00 rolled around and we figured the day was just gettting hotter. Lucky for us we had purchased the super CHROME DOMES(umbrellas). Yeah baby! These have been by far our favorite gear purchase. It keeps the head and shoulders cool and when the breeze passes by it feels like an air conditioner. That day we thanked ourselves for being so thoughtful and sending a pair to Big Bear. Shade was limited and it was F-ing HOT!!! We rolled into the small horse town, called Agua Dulce around 5:30. Everyone we hiked with was already showered and eating pizza when arrived at the restaurant. We are known for taking lots of siestas and "mini soaks" aka bringing our attention back to our surroundings. Many times we find ourselves in the zone, looking at the trail while passing some of the most beautiful scenery. So we try make sure we take a minute and drink it in. After we scarfed down our "town food," we did a 1 day resupply for the Andersons(another trail angels house only 24 miles away from the Saufleys) and headed a mile up the Rd to one of most impressively run trail angel homes; the Saufleys. The walk up this western style neighborhood was so cool. Most of the houses had acres of land with horses and horse paraphanilia scattered around their property. We weren't quite sure where their house was, but as we got closer we saw 5 out houses lined along a fence and knew that had to be it. We walked up to the back gate and were greeted by a couple of hikers and 2 beautiful horses. Aside from the long necked creatures in the back yard, our jaws dropped when we saw their beautiful desert garden, 3 large white tents with cots, a fire ring pit with haystack benches, trailers, 7 different hiker boxes, in town clothes station with shoes and clean towels and wash clothes(AMAZING), a post office area, bullentin boards with an REI sign up sheet(WOW), internet, bikes, and best of all LAUNDRY service that kept pumpin till 11:30 at night. Booyahkasha! Thank you so much L-ROD for everything that you do and provide for us filthy hiker trash. The woman touches our crusty dirt filled socks for heavens sakes. We immediately put our names on the REI list and grabbed some towels for our 2nd shower of the day. It was a miracle! That night we got to see Zippy and Mt. Dog, Thor and Penn-J; whom have been miles ahead. It was so great to see some of our first crew again. We always seem to be playing this catch up game with different hikers on the trail; especially the ones from the very start. We miss you Moose, Peru and Gourmet! Happy trails and hope to see you again. The next day we squeezed 7 deep into a large 4x4 truck and held on tight to REI. This wonderful lady was not messing around, weaving in and out of traffic. We had a hour window to get all our shopping done and in record time we managed to get everything done and still have time for lunch. Pretty good considering we spent days in REI prior to the trail. We consider ourselves experienced REI shoppers now. That night we headed out with the motivation of knowing the Moose and Peru were only a few days ahead and hoping they got caught in the vortex at the Andersons. It was late when we left the Saufleys but we wanted to knock out a few miles so we only had to do 20 the next day. At 5:30 the next morning while packing up the tent, P-Track took us by surprise and came trapsing down the trail. We thought he was miles ahead but he took some zeros with local family and landed on our collapsible doorstep. We offered him an egg sandwich we made at the Saufleys and he instantly became our "gerber graduate"(inside joke because he is eats gerber freeze dried fruit) till he fell ill past Tehachapi. The Israelis caught up to us around mid day while we were taking our lunch in the middle of the fly ridden trail. Little did we know that a mile down was the GREATEST CACHE of all, compliments of the Andersons. The plan was to grab some water and go, but when we saw this bushel shade cave and all its blow up beach and pirate glory decor, with lawn chairs, coolers of soda and beer; we knew we weren't going anywhere. Dang it! Shaun and Diana had been there for 5 hours when arrived. We couldn't show them up and just leave, it would have been rude. An hour and half later we set out to finish the longest 8 miles EVER. When we finally got the ranger station, Terri Anderson had just pulled up to check for hikers 5 minutes before we got there. Perfect timing. She greeted us with bear hugs and we packed our bags in the mini van and thanked her for the ride. When we pulled up to the house, we heard a roar of clapping, hootin and hollering. We heard Moose and Peru were still there and we immediately ran to give them hugs. It took a minute to soak in our surroundings after seeing our long lost friends. It had only been a few weeks since we last saw them, but on the trail it feels like months. It's true what they say about the Andersons and the Saufleys being night and day. At the Saufleys it's a 2 day maximum stay and everything is neat and their opperation runs like butter. AND at the Andersons it's a 2 day Minimum, feels like home and runs according to the wind. When you walk up to the Andersons house there are couches outlining the perimeter of the garage with coolers of soda and beer and vanity set up for computer access. Next to the vanity is an outdoor closest with your choice of Hawaiin shirts and luau accessories. It's no wonder that people people call it a vortex. That night we dined on Terri's famous taco salad and enjoyed the short company of our old trail family. Moose and Peru fled the next morning as fast as they could, leaving us once again.  Unfortunately we couldn't go with them due to a shoe emergency. The new shoes, bought only the day before, were to small and another REI run had to be made. Thank you Liz! You are a toe nail life saver! We left the Andersons that night unscathed and did 8 miles with Karate Kid, John Wayne, P-Track, Alcie and Steve, Castle and Nightingale. It took us a day and half to get to Hiker Town, an infamous oddity right before you hit the L.A. Aqueduct. The story told from the perspective of the husband, is that his wife turned away a couple PCT hikers years ago thinking they were filthy hobos. After she found out that they were filthy hobos walking from Mexico to Canada, she felt so bad she started taking in every hiker as her new pet project. The project finally grew into her buying miniature western town buildings, filling them with beds and providing all the wonderful hiker amenities. The move most people were planning from Hiker Town, including ourselves, was to take a long siesta and at dusk, hike 17 more miles along the aqueduct. Usually this time of year the weather is unbearable, however we were blessed and cursed with a cold front. Regardless, night hiking sounded like fun. After doing our town chores, eating a delicious homemade meal, and taking a small cat nap; we set out on our way. It was a beautiful evening to night hike. The sun was just about to set behind the mountain peaks, coloring the sky in shades of blue, green and yellow; reflecting perfectly off water from the aqueduct. There was enough light that night, we didn't need to use our head lamps. Most of that trail was road walking, so we were happy we hiked with our eyes gazing at the stars. We finally made it to the wind farm around 2 in the morning after being pelted with sand for the last two miles. We were so tired all we could do was laugh in the face of the wind as we walked side by side towards the farm. We ended the day with 27 miles under our belt and instantly fell asleep huddled behind a building. 5 hours later we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, showing off these impressive giant wind turbines. It almost felt like they had a presence to them. Although we were the first up, we ended up being the last to leave(as always). We just can't help being social butterflies on the trail. From the wind farm all the way past Tehachapi, the cold front brought with it high force winds. That day we were subjected to the worst of the storm while walking up 4 miles of switchbacks, up the side of a mountain. Multiple people from town said this was the worst storm in 30 years, with 80-100 mile an hour winds. With no exaggeration, these winds were blowing us around like rag dolls up and down the mountain. Every switchback we had to brace ourselves because the wind would blow us back 5 ft or stop us in our tracks. The trail was only a foot wide and there were times where we were shoved off the edge making us self arrest on our poles for dear life. We were thrashed into each other and into rocks, poles were flying out of hands and we were forced into running/flying up the trail because the wind was so strong. It was definitely the most dangerous moment we have encountered on the trail. We finally made it to the top and huddled in the most wind resistant bushes we could find. The next day the wind had died down a bit and we neroed in Tehachapi 10 miles later. Papa Yamamoto came into town and trail angeled us around to resupply and treated us to one of the most amazing meals. Thank you Dad!  It was fun to be able to share our experiences with him and give him a little in insight as to what happens when we come into town. For instance, like the "bomb" that goes off inside the hotel room with our food and gear spread out on the bed and on any available counter surfaces. I think Papa Rich was more over whelmed then we were. Especially when we told him about the hurricane forces winds we encountered the day before. Note to self, don't tell the Pops about the fatal details on the trail. He worries to much. Love you Dad! From Tehachapi, we resupplied for 7 days to Kennedy Meadows. Kennedy Meadows is the last stop before we hit the Sierras and also where Trail Angel Tom resides. We reunited with the Israelis and P-track not even a mile down the trail. We had planned on cowboy camping that night, but from the sight of the dark clouds moving in we put up the tent. It rained all night and snowed in the high desert. The next morning we were greeted with 45 mile a hour winds and cold temperatures. Thought we were suppose to be hiking in the desert? That day we ended up loosing two members of the group. P-track had fallen ill with a stomach virus and Karate Kid sliced his hand the night before and he had to retreat back to town for medical assistance. The 3 of us continued on and met up other hikers along the way including Stride, Super Girl and Camshaft. Super Girl showed up out of nowhere one night and informed us his dad was picking him up 26 miles down the trail the next day. He invited us to go with him and enjoy a little bbq at a campsite 35 miles away. Free food and good company? Count us in! The next day we hauled ass and made it just minutes after Super Dad arrived. He scooped us up in his trailer and the 5 of us, including another hiker named Tock, bumped along a dirt road towards camp. This particular campsite was a stop along the PCT and we were informed that there were several PCT hikers camped around the area including Moose, Peru and Gourmet. Surprise! It was Memorial Day and they had managed to get a ride into town to get a glorious feast. We ended up eating like kings and laughing till the nights end. That evening we cowboy camped side by side like inseparable sardines and the next morning, said our goodbyes and departed with heart ache knowing they were a couple days ahead. Always a couple days ahead.

To be continued......