As the group who had camped together last night inevitably congregated at the water cache 8 miles from the next road crossing, we began to discuss which town we would each be heading to. There were two options, Mojave and Tehachapi.
Each town had pros and cons. Tehachapi had a movie theater. Mojave had Motel 6 with $35.99 rooms. Tehachapi had thrift stores. Mojave was very compact and walkable. Tehachapi had small town character. Mojave...well to be honest, Mojae was a hot, windy, truck stop town and I am delighted that I had mom send my package to tehachapi.
I hitched in with WeeBee an Alaskan who shares my loves of bluegrass, "affordable" beer, and siestas. After putting out thumbs out for about 20 minutes, we were about ready to call it quits and call a local trail angel, when not one, not two, but three cars stopped at once to pick us up!
We asked the driver to brig us to a tasty restaurant, food being the number one priority (not looking good, feeling good, or safety as I had previously thought). I had a jumbo taco salad with melt in your mouth chunks of pork (just thinking about it makes my mouth water even though I just ate a burrito the size and weight of a 2 month old baby).
After getting food out of he way, we needed to find a place to lay our heads. The chain hotels (best western, la quinta etc) all wanted $120+ for a room. Yelp advertised the Ranch Motel as very affordable but only two stars. We eventually found are way to the establishment, picking up Runs with Elk on the way, and while the room didn't come with shampoo, it did come with three beds and only put us back $45 all together. Not bad at all.
Besides that it was a pretty standard town stop. We ate at an incredible bakery, I bought te next book in the Wheel of Time series (book 6: Lord of Chaos, if you're interested), and hung out outside of albertsons for close to four hours before hitting the trail. All in all a great little town.
Oh! Possibly the most important thing that I found: a thrift store. I knew that the Sierras were coming, and with them the triple threats of cold weather, Mosquitos, and postholing. I have been happily hiking in a skirt but felt that pants may be necessary soon. I found a treasure trove of old lady slacks at the Tehachapi Guild Thrift Store. I ended up chosing a pair of gold silk slacks which ride at the belly button and came ironed and have fabulous pleats. I love them. That is all there is to it :)
Each town had pros and cons. Tehachapi had a movie theater. Mojave had Motel 6 with $35.99 rooms. Tehachapi had thrift stores. Mojave was very compact and walkable. Tehachapi had small town character. Mojave...well to be honest, Mojae was a hot, windy, truck stop town and I am delighted that I had mom send my package to tehachapi.
I hitched in with WeeBee an Alaskan who shares my loves of bluegrass, "affordable" beer, and siestas. After putting out thumbs out for about 20 minutes, we were about ready to call it quits and call a local trail angel, when not one, not two, but three cars stopped at once to pick us up!
We asked the driver to brig us to a tasty restaurant, food being the number one priority (not looking good, feeling good, or safety as I had previously thought). I had a jumbo taco salad with melt in your mouth chunks of pork (just thinking about it makes my mouth water even though I just ate a burrito the size and weight of a 2 month old baby).
After getting food out of he way, we needed to find a place to lay our heads. The chain hotels (best western, la quinta etc) all wanted $120+ for a room. Yelp advertised the Ranch Motel as very affordable but only two stars. We eventually found are way to the establishment, picking up Runs with Elk on the way, and while the room didn't come with shampoo, it did come with three beds and only put us back $45 all together. Not bad at all.
Besides that it was a pretty standard town stop. We ate at an incredible bakery, I bought te next book in the Wheel of Time series (book 6: Lord of Chaos, if you're interested), and hung out outside of albertsons for close to four hours before hitting the trail. All in all a great little town.
Oh! Possibly the most important thing that I found: a thrift store. I knew that the Sierras were coming, and with them the triple threats of cold weather, Mosquitos, and postholing. I have been happily hiking in a skirt but felt that pants may be necessary soon. I found a treasure trove of old lady slacks at the Tehachapi Guild Thrift Store. I ended up chosing a pair of gold silk slacks which ride at the belly button and came ironed and have fabulous pleats. I love them. That is all there is to it :)
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