tehachapi to lone fir

Sunday – March 2nd

Today was.....interesting. We got up very early in the morning, had breakfast and got cleaned up and out of the Methodist Church in plenty of time for them to get ready for services. We also had a lot of miles to cover while we are trying to work our way the heck out of California as quickly as possible. This means our runners were put to the test and had to cover nearly 90 miles between the 6-8 of them. Bless those runners!!
Us walkers, meanwhile were shuttled in busses, vans and cars those 80 plus miles so we could pick up the remaining miles. I've heard that we walked 18 miles. Then I heard it was 21 plus. Then someone told me it was really closer to 30. I'm gonna go with 21 plus – 'cause it felt like that – we were out there for a long time putting the miles down with nearly 50 walkers. We finished strong though – cruising right into the Lone Wolf RV Park at right about 5:00. We got a late start because of the drive, so we didn't hit the pavement until 10:00 – but we got 'er done.
There are two things I remember the most about this walk. One of them was the constant wind that challenged all of the walkers especially our staff carriers!). The other thing was the wind. It was windy. (It was also really tough on our runners). So, yeah, it was blustery – not too cold really – but it was coming across the desert floor and whipping up a decent scene for everyone. So – that was what we had to contend with.
There was a fun little moment – we were walking through the city and came by a mall signboard that was showing all of the featured shops. One of the signs simply said “SUSHI” in big block letters an caight the attention of Jun-san. She kept pointing at the sign, smiling and nodding her head. We were waiting for the light to change, and when it did she started banging the drum and walking towards the direction of the mall. She came back – but she seemed a little reluctant.
We arrived at the RV Park to yet more wonderful hospitality. An amazing meal served out and hot showers available. Folks turned in early.

Here's what Walker Maggie had to say about yesterday's walk:
I woke up around 4am and wished I could just turn the heater on and sleep in but I crawled out of my tent and meditated with the buddhist monks. At the morning circle we were honored to have Morning Star and her family back with us! We hastily loaded our vans and caravaned out of the Sierras towards Joshua Tree. The wind was STRONG today and while we were on the hwy I watched as wind blew a pot off the top of our van. It was some kind of like a giant wok and it looked to me like a big metal basket. It landed right side up and we were able to stop our vecheles before hitting it. We all pulled over and tied down out gear. At the rest stop later the win was blowing so hard you had to fight it and cover your eyes or walk backwards. We were transported to Apple Valley and it wasn't quite what I expected. There weren't any apples. It was a really spotty place for pedistians. Roads starting and ending in random places signs saying “flooded” cars buzzing by trains, wind turbines, prisions, a water treatment plant, trains and then the choas of the actual town. Sometimes we didn't know where to walk and other times we had our own fancy sidewalk painted to mimic a road. We were excited to see a kid on the walk again Morning Star's daughter walked a bit of it with us. It was windy all day and we were pretty beat when we pulled into camp but we very blessed by the kindness of Rosemary and Ken our hosts at the Lone Wolf RV park. They fixed a fancy meal for us and wouldn't even let us help them clean up afterwards! It was such a hectict day that at the end up it I was just happy we were all still alive.