Day 30: Zero in Tehachapi

Day 30 – 5/21/16

Tehachapi 558.51
Total miles: 0.25

I woke up early ready to get into town. I got out of my tent to see if 5 Star was up but he must have been still asleep. I sat in my tent updating the site and browsing the Internet for a couple hours. I heard Captain walk by and he said it looked like 5 Star was up. I walked over and asked 5 Star if he was ready to get going.  We packed up our stuff and headed for the road which was a quarter mile away.

We crossed the road and stuck out our thumbs.  we stand there for a few minutes before we see Tea Time walk to the road. He is going the opposite direction to Mojave. I see a tennis ball on the side of the road and throw the ball to him.  He tries to throw it back but we are uphill and upwind.  A couple minutes later a guy named Dalton dropping off hikers further up the road stops by and says if we are still there in 30 minutes.

Right as he drives off a guy in a Ranger drives up and offers to drive us. We hop in the back off the truck. Hitching and riding in the bed of a truck? Mom would not approve. The guy drives us to a Loves gas station that has a McDonald’s. He says he can’t drive us into town since it’s illegal to ride in the back. We get breakfast at McDonald’s. Deluxe breakfast and a sausage egg biscuit. So good!

We stand on the road again to get a hitch to the Best Western.  We get picked up by a guy in a super nice Dodge Ram 2500. He works for the water company that manages the aqueduct and talks about it for while he drives us to the hotel. We walk into the hotel and there is an older Asian lady at the desk. I walk up and say hello. She hands me a wireless mouse and asks me to change the batteries. Uh… ok? I help her change the batteries and then she asks if I need a room. I tell her I have a reservation.  She charges my card and hands me my room key. Definitely the most interesting room check in I’ve ever had.

We get to the room and basically lounge around for the rest of the night. We order a pizza later and watch the new HBO movie “All The Way.” A movie about LBJ passing the civil rights act and the 1964 election. Very interesting movie. Bryan Cranston does a great job.

Jim’s foot has been hurting the last couple days so we decided to stay an extra day and will leave on Tuesday instead of Monday.