Hello Everyone,

Here I am at Camp 6, on Highway 58 at Odell Road, which is just a dirt forest service road.

I trekked 15.33 miles today, but it could be more as I have no service and the mileage may not have recorded.

Today was a wild day and one of my most challenging on my treks. Most of the day started out fairly well and then went downhill quickly around 2-3 PM.

I woke to a light rain and was not in a hurry hoping it would stop. It stopped raining about nine and the sky cleared to sunshine. Great day I thought and hit the road late and close to eleven by them.

Traffic on 97 was fairly light being a Monday. Temperature was in the low to mid sixties and the sun was shining. Wow! Double wow! I hear the birds chirping, the bees buzzing, and maybe a rainbow too. Just kidding of course.

Reached Highway 58 a few miles later and found it even less busy, sometimes not seeing a car for 5-10 minutes. I found myself finally hitting that pace, the one I had not really felt yet on this portion of the trek . I am not in a hurry, and when you feel that pace, you just end up trekking long miles without effort or think about it.

I also realized that I had not really stopped to smell the roses on this trip. I think I had been too concerned with the weather, my foot, and just a little nervous about starting the trek in general.

I glanced up at the sky and thought how beautiful those black clouds coming in from at least three directions looked. I need to stop and smell the roses! If I were in a car, or in front of a warm fireplace in a cabin, I would appreciate and love to see those beautiful clouds. I am going to write that in my blog!

Yes, those black clouds, and the thunder and lightning, aren’t they wonderful and look, they are right on top of me now. My rain gear is close by so I’ll enjoy all of this, it’s part of the experience.

Well, I got a little too joyful because all of a sudden it started to rain. Buckets, buckets, buckets, and buckets, instantly. I scrambled to dig out my rain gear and found myself fumbling and shaking as you do when you are in a hurry. Then it started to hail! Where’s my hat cover, where’s the backpack cover, what should I cover first? Hurry!

I found and had placed the cover that came with the Wheelie on in the morning but not the poncho that I recently bought to cover the entire Wheelie with the backpack and fanny pack strapped to the top. I realize that the packs were getting wet and decided to cover them up first. I had rope strapped to the Wheelie that I was going to use to tie up the poncho around the Wheelie but I lost it yesterday. I knew I had a long strap somewhere that would work even better, but where did I store it? With shaking and fumbling hands I dug through the pouched and finally found it.

The water and hail were flowing like a river on the road, amazing. God must have turned on the fire hose as I looked down and saw my pants were drenched. This is in a matter of seconds, not minutes. I pulled on my rain parka over my soaking wet wool shirt and by then my so called water resistant Tilley hat was soaked too. I tired pulling on my rain pants over my wet pants and big clonking boots, and of course they got stuck in the pants legs. Ever try pulling on your pants unsupported when you loose your balance? Well, try doing that when your boot is stuck in your pant leg in a monsoon!

Of course my rain pants have zippers that run the entire length of the leg, but who thinks to unzip them while your trying to stay dry. Love those tight water proof, rubber coated zippers, but not when your hands are shaking and fumbling! Finally managed to unzip the lags, and hanging onto the Wheelie, I finally got them over my soaked paints and wool bottoms.

So to add insult to injury, a few trucks and cars zoomed by splashing even more water on my soaking body. I literally dropped my hands to the side (really), looked up at the sky, and said, what was I even thinking about writing how I love the look of those black ominous storm clouds? Where are those chirping birds, buzzing bees, and rainbows now?!

So what do I do? I can’t see because it’s pouring so hard and my prescription sunglasses are so fogged up too because the hot air is raising up from the sauna inside my parka. So, standing there as the trucks splash more water on me, I decided to just walk until it stops raining. Unfortunately it never did!

I was tired and would have stopped by then but it was raining to hard to pitch the tent as it would get soaked before I could get the fly on. There I was, walked along a shoulder that was now turning into a muddy river. Most, not all, of the truck drivers where courteous and moved over as they passed. I still made it a point to stop and move over as far as I could. But still, as they passed, a wave of water would splash over me like a wave at the ocean, like someone was  throwing buckets of water on me.

Oh, wait! Darn, I no wonder some trucks aren’t moving over, they can’t see me. I forgot  that I had pulled my parka over my bright orange vest! Oh well, I am wet anyway, so off comes the parka to take my vest off and put back over the parka. Wow, that didn’t feel too bad because I am soaked anyway.

I think all this happened around two or three, but they say during times of stress one looses the sense of time. The rain never stopped but did lighten a bit. I continued on until about 5-5:30? All that time I was playing dodge with the trucks and cars just to get away from the splash.

The rain finally lightened to the point I thought I could try and set up, and that is where I am camped now. As I began to set up the tent it started to rain a bit harder. Of course! By the time I set up the tent the inside was soaked. I took a fleece cloth and wiped the inside out and literally wrung cups full of water out. It was drier but still moist.

It was a trick to get everything off the Wheelie and into the tent. I was pretty exhausted by then too. Thankfully I had a good sleeping bag that has water resistant down as everything inside was moist, everything. They same great company that makes the bag, Sierra Design, also makes a great tent that has a built in fly so you can set it up in the rain and doesn’t get wet inside. One of their nice customer service reps who has kept in touch with me had offered it to me but I liked this tent. Now I wish I had it!

Luckily most of my clothes are either wool or nylon, as I really didn’t get too cold. They are soaked and I don’t know how I’ll dry them inside a wet and small tent?

This is a time when I would op for a motel, but I have no idea if I am even close to one. I don’t have cell service to check or send out this blog. But writing this is a good tension reliever. Ha ha! I am so tired that I am not going to eat dinner tonight, and I am just going to sleep and dream of waking to a beautiful sunshiny day. As they say, “in your dream”.

Please keep sending me your positive thoughts and prayers my way. Hope to be able to update my blog tomorrow.

Ted