Trail Miles 0-but that all changes today.
Elevation: Couch at Hostel in San Diego
Temperature: Comfortable, but its raining outside.
Flying Out:
After Joe and Miranda left me at the airport yesterday, i paced back and forth awaiting Debi's arrival. I could tell that the fears and hopes and anticipation of the trail was effecting me. I had little appetite over the last three days, felt occasionally nauseous, and spent my last few hours, before arriving in San Diego, incredibly dizzy.
So I waited hungry, but nauseous, and dizzy at the airport for Debi's arrival. She is my other hiking partner. Casually she sauntered up to the gate 10 minutes before boarding. I had been waiting for over an hour and was fearing that perhaps she decided to bail...but no the trail must be hiked. Relieved she had arrived, I finally relaxed and realized it had begun.
Arriving:
After getting off the plane (and saving some airplane nuts for the trail), Debi and I went to pick up our bags. Our other hiking partner, Jon, was waiting for us. I had only spoke to him on the email and phone, so it was planned to try and find eachother at the airport. It was fairly easy for him I guess. We were in hiking boots, carrying extra shoes and food. Once all of our bags were in hand we went to the hostel in San Diego.
Getting to Know each other:
After getting a hostel room, the three of us took the bus out to a healthfood grocery store where we had a lunch and chatted about what to do before we hit the trail. It was the first food in days that actually didn't make me feel sick to eat...even though it wasn't food i typically eat.
After buying some groceries we took the bus back to the hostel. Driving into San Diego was rather fun because I was watching the scenery that will soon be different.
Boat Sails will turn to Swaying Trees
Vast ocean will turn to rare streams and mudpuddles.
The tall orthagonal buildings will become organic mountains to go over (with no elevators)
...
uh...
...
Anyway, we arrived back at the hostel and sat upstairs doing some repacking of our bags to incorporate the food and water. After that we decided to go get dinner, what would be our last nice night out in a long while.
Where did we go?
To "Woodfired Pizza" of course. All evening long Jon and I talked about getting beer (mostly because Debi said "you two probably are gonna want to have beer alot when we do town stops"). For me Beer and pizza it was. He had Calzone and Beer, and she had Baba Ghanoush, a salad, and wine (rare rare treat for her).
Over dinner we had time to talk about other things beside the trail. This should be a fun trip...or at least emotional. He just broke up with his girlfriend of 10 years, she just broke with her boyfriend of 6 years, and i recently split with my wife of many years.
But besides the relationship side of things, we had many interesting conversations on the nature of religion. science, math, physics, health, and the trail of course. All in all, getting to know each other is going very smoothly. As long as we walk at similar paces we probably will be able to hike the whole way together.
For now... off to the outdoor store to buy a bit of gear, and then off to campo. We arrive at 5:15 pm, and may hike to the border and back this evening (1.3 miles eachway). After that, pending how we feel, and the time of day we will either sleep, or start out heading north.
Happy Trails
Roger
Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony
Debi and Jon
Myself and Jon ready to go