That's right. Kittens and rattlesnakes. Here at the Hikertown Hostel this evening we have kittens and dogs to pet but today on the trail Tina encountered the very deadly Mojave Green Rattlesnake, producer of the most toxic snake venom in the New World. Tina couldn't get this particular one to move from the trail and so she finally backed up and then walked right at it at full speed. That got it mad but then it slithered off into a burrow -- pic above.
I of course encountered my own exotic dangers. ;-) Today speeding downhill with the fierce wind for 15 miles I was constantly being zinged in the legs and face by zillions of little grasshoppers which, for some reason, like to sit at the side of the road. Most jumped out of the way or onto me but I probably smashed several dozen. The grasshoppers were there yesterday too only I was going so slow they all hopped out of the way by the time I got up to them. In the slow motion study that was yesterday I noticed that the grasshoppers seem to like it when one of their buddies gets smashed -- they all show up to dine on the remains. Yum. I study things like this when I'm crawling up hill. :-}
Anyway, we safely arrived here at Hikertown in the early and mid-afternoon. It's one sweet place made up by its (movie producer) owner to look like the set from a movie western. Everybody gets their own room / building / trailer for the night but there's a wonderful common area with a full kitchen, laundry, shower, a big lounging area, etc. There are dogs and kittens to pet and chickens to chase. The nearest store is about 10 miles away but the store / deli (the "Wee Vill Market") actually sent a huge RV type van out to pick about eight of us up to load up on fresh cooked food and other supplies and then they ran us back! We understand that during hiker season this happens 1-2 times per day! But best of all there is no TV or phones so the hikers tend to abide by "hiker midnight" and are almost all (a dozen+ tonight) in bed by 9pm. I think I may be the only one up at this point. It's not a place to zero like the Saufley's, but it's nevertheless wonderful.
Tomorrow Tina heads out early for the dreaded Aquaduct walk across the desert floor which is considered by many to be the most miserable section on the whole trail. Thankfully, it looks like Tina will mostly just have the wind to deal with since the highs are only supposed to be in the low 80s vs the 100s that people sometimes experience here. She hopes to make it across the floor and then climb back up into the mountains a couple thousand feet before calling it quits.
Meanwhile I'll be biking about 50 miles to the allegedly icky town of Mojave where our next mail drop and drop box should be waiting. The day after I will probably be cycling up and against the wind to Tehachapi for isobutane canisters and then back to Tehachapi Pass to pick up Tina with a quick 2000' downhill ride back to Mojave for a zero afterwards.
I'll end with a shout out to our son Keith who "phases" tomorrow at the DLI and starts his year+ of Chinese study. Congrats Keith!
/David