Hello Everyone,

I am camped off of Highway 139, across from Eagle Lake, and about 42 miles south of Adin. I trekked 17 miles today and had planned on going a little further since I had such a rhythm yesterday, but everyday it’s different. There is a large ranch at the bottom of the grade as it reached Eagle Lake. It is a picturesque scene with the old farm house and barn, and the hundreds, if not thousands, of cattle in the meadows surrounding what’s left of the lake due to the drought. My camp spot is right across from the meadows and I can hear all those hundreds of cattle mooing. It sounds like a stockyard and will make for good background noise to put me to sleep.

I had a nice camp spot last night and woke to a very overcast sky and then a little drizzle. I covered the Wheelie with the rain fly and put everything else under the tent rain fly. It never rained more than a drizzle and I was prepared to just hunker down in my cozy sleeping bag and just listen to the rain and read my book. That didn’t seem like a bad option.

With the rain delay I didn’t hit the road until about 9:30 and it was a nice change to start the day in cool and overcast weather. It was in the fifties in the morning and never got over the mid seventies all day. The road was very pleasant and the traffic light, which is good because there isn’t much of a shoulder. The scenery was beautiful ranging from thick trees to grass valleys.

I did have my Huell Howser minute when I noticed a road marker. It was barely visible and surely would not have seen it if in a car. Apparently this area of 139 was originally a route for wagon trains coming to California. This particular spot is where three different trails joined. It was still a popular and well traveled route into the 1900s. So in 1913 they put in a public water trough, one of the only in the country. Ok, that was my little bit of trivia.

I only had a little over one gallon of water left and figured I would not reach the fire station or campground today to fill up. But, I got lucky! Some nice tourists from Chicago that were driving by in the positive direction made a u-turn and stopped to talk with me. They were in their fifties and were going back to Reno to catch their flight home tomorrow. The first thing they asked me was if I needed food or water? Of course I said with great appreciation. She filled up my drinking bottles and topped off my gallon bottles too. That sure solved my water problem for the day! They also tried to give me some of their camping food too, but I politely told them I had enough.

It’s people like this that make the day and trek for me, not only because the water they gave me, but the comfort of knowing that there are such kind people in the world. We chatted for a while, and they had a ton of questions about my trek, and of course told me about their two week vacation too.

Just before they left, the man reminded me that there was a steep grade a few miles down the road. I hadn’t really worried about it since it wasn’t bad yesterday on the steep grade. My plantar fasciitis wasn’t too bad either and I think it’s because walking uphill stretches the fascia in a similar direction as the Strassburg Sock, up and back. Unfortunately, my plantar fasciitis had started to bother me in the morning because much of it was downhill, the worst thing for it.

I started at the bottom of the grade figuring that it was not going to be as steep as yesterday. As it turns out, the grade is three miles long and gains about 1,000′ in elevation. Not quite as steep as yesterday, but for some reason it seemed more of a challenge. I think because of the pain in my foot. Once at the top, I realized the downhill was even steeper and I actually walked on the gravel shoulder to slow down the Wheelie and my pace.

I figured it was time to stop, and the beauty about Highway 139 is there are countless nice places to camp. What caught my eye about this site were two deer that were grazing on the grass. There is a small spring running down the hill and the area is covered in lush grass.

I put on my Strassburg Sock as soon as I set up and hopefully it will sooth my foot by morning. I am still hopeful in to Adin by Saturday. Cell service has actually been good on 139 and hopeful will still be tomorrow so I can update my blog.

As always, please keep sending me your positive thoughts and prayers. Please excuse the typos, grammar, spelling, etc.

Ted