Slow day. I slept in until 8. Feels so good. I got the practicalities out of the way early and Guillaume and I headed to Walmart for the obligatory resupply. On the way we saw High Five, No Bear and Christopher. High Five planning to lounge in his hotel’s pool for 2 days to let his hurting Achilles rest. The past days had been hard on him. Not only did he have poison oak rash on his legs, he almost got no sleep on the windy night 2 days prior. According to those who camped around him, at some point he screamed: ‘MOTHERFUCKER! THIS SUCKS!’ not knowing he wasn’t alone.
At Walmart, he decided he’d had enough of hiking and took one of the mobility scooters to cruise around the store. High Five is my favourite older person on the trail at this point.
Exiting, I finally found my Belgian compatriots. It had been 6 years since I’d seen Jesse and reuniting here in Tehachapi was surreal. We lounged a bit in front of Walmart with everyone and had our weekly ration of fresh vegetables and fruit. High Five took off to relax in his hotel’s pool for the rest of the day.
To vary my meals a bit from the usual beer and burger routine, I went out for sushi with Spice, Mouse, Stinger, Fitz and Mouse’s mom. The rest of the evening was spent lying on the couch in the airbnb we’d rented.