California!
California!
The last good-byes are said, tears are shed. It will be a while until I see my mum, family, and friends again. Oh dear.
The flight goes smooth though, I only just have to nearly almost throw up once.
Seems I arrived in California!
I will stay in Santa Monica to get rid of the jetlag and make my first resupply parcels ready to be sent ahead by USPS priority mail.
It will probably be four parcels with food in them.
Hope the nuts I bought will not get mouldy until I pick up the parcel to eat them!
When my jetlagged brain wakes up at 3 am in the morning, I have to sooth it a bit, as it begins to worry:
“oh, Heidi, this is a huge endeavour, are you sure that this is what you want? Are you sure you can do this? What do you do if you get lost? What about all the snakes and spiders out there in the desert… “
And on and on she goes….
So I reply:
“Common brain, don’t be such a bitch now. Don’t start to doubt me now after all the work I have put into this. Just shut up, will you? We can discuss this later when we are on trail. Don’t do this to me now.”
So this is sorted, brain is quiet for the moment, I can try to go back to sleep.
The next morning I am ready for the “bounce bucket buying challenge”.
The bounce bucket is a paint bucket, famously recommended by former PCT hikers to use as a bounce bucket. I will fill it with things I don’t need for the moment and send (bounce!) it ahead a few hundred miles, where I will then pick it up, take out what I need (e.g. toiletries, pills, vitamins) and bounce it off again. A bucket is much more robust of course than a box. So a bucket it must be!
Excellent, but have you ever been in the States without a car?! Stores like Home Depot are never downtown. It took me bloody 3 hours by bus and foot to get this stupid bucket!
But here I am, proud owner of a lovely bucket (white with orange lid on top!)
So this is done.
Awesome.
Learning of the day:
It is so much harder to write a blog post on my tiny mobile phone rather than on my nice big monitor at home! I will not be able to take care of a nice text formatting and layout anymore. And there will be typos all over the place! Hope, dear reader, you don’t mind as much as I do!
Heidi, you will do great!!! :)
And yes, getting around in the USA without a car is really a pain in the butt ;)
Have fun!!!
Thanks Cindy! I am glad that the organizational part is all done now!
Oh, so happy that you arrived safely! Do not forget the ?! When do you start walking?
All the best and enjoy ?
Hi Stefan! I purchased some extra Chocolate as per your advice! Only a few days now…
Welcome to Los Angeles, California! Our transit system sucks and so driving and parking a car. If you need to get around Uber or Lyft is the way to go.
Hi Jon! Should have done indeed! Could have spent much more time @ the beach this way!
Very glad to hear from you ? it feels good to read some interesting california-news from you Heidi. I was very excited about how you manage all the preparations down there. I guess that the happy, quiet and serene moments are certainly come up, when you were hiking a few days/weeks, did sleep a couple of nights ⛺️without interruption, when you have become settled in the new surroundings and you did meet a couple of like-minded hikers… all the best for day 1 at pct ?
Thanks Barbara!! I hope indeed that I will sleep well without too many interruptions (from noises around the tent!)
Here you go! Congratulations on a great start! Best wishes and good luck!
Thanks Cristian!!
I wish you a good start..dont mind about the text Layout. All will be happy to hear from you and your experiences. And awesome pictures :)
Take care
Bert
Thanks Bert! I am relieved to hear that!
Liebe Heidi,
deine Rauchzeichen sind angekommen,wunderbar ;-) Beim Lesen deiner Zweifelgedanken die plötzlich da waren und das Vorhaben haben infrage stellen lassen musste ich an das Buch “Tosende Stille” von Janice Jakait denken.Sie ist die erste Frau,die mit einem Ruderboot den Atlantik überquert hat und im Vorfeld enorm viel auf die Reihe bringen musste, monatelang, damit dieser Plan in Tat umgesetzt werden konnte.Als es dann wirklich soweit war und sie mit den ersten Ruderschlägen auf den offenen Atlantik zusteuerte ,die winkenden Familienangehörigen und Abschiednehmenden an Land immer kleiner wurden, sie sich irgendwann zwischen riesigen Frachtschiffen und Riesenwellen wiederfand, wurde sie von grossen Zweifeln an ihrem Vorhaben geplagt.Die Versuchung war gross, wieder auf die nächste Bucht zuzusteuern und irgendwo unterzuschlüpfen damit keiner ihrer “Fans” etwas davon mitbekommen würde.Doch sie tut das natürlich nicht sondern sie kämpft sich durch ,sie schafft es,und am Ende ist sie sich selbst damit ein unbeschreiblich grosses Stück näher gekommen.Ich habe diesen Effekt des plötzlichen Zweifelns zu Beginn in vielen Biografien gelesen von Menschen,die sich auf ein grösseres Outdoorabenteuer eingelassen haben und ich glaube,es ist natürlicher Bestandteil davon.Muss es vielleicht sogar sein ,damit wir uns sehr bewusst auf unseren Weg machen.Und du bist auf dem Weg in ein wunderbares Abenteuer liebe Heidi. Keep in touch with yourself , hang in there, you will make it ;-). Big Hug, Sandy
Danke Sandy für Deine lieben Worte!! Das hast Du sehr schön gesagt!! Big hug! Heidi
Hi Heidi! My wife and I hiked the PCT last year, starting April 20th, 2016. I hope you don’t mind me following your blog. We miss the trail very much as the anniversary of our start gets closer. We met some lovely Swiss people on the trail last year, so I was excited to find your blog. I wish you the best of luck for your hike! You can do it!! It is an amazing experience!!
Hi Chris!! It will be a huge honor for me that follow my blog!! Hikers from the class 2016!! Awesome! :)