I am in S. Lake Tahoe today, my folks took their vacation here so I could spend a few days with them. It is good to see them and recieve their love, although I never felt it to not be present, it is nice to see their faces non the less. I was talking with my best friend and soul mate Zoe today telling her I was going to write a blog but I hadn't a clue what I should write about, feeling rather uninspired to write the past couple of days, maybe due to space from the trail, she told me "it will come to you as you need it to" I believe that to be true with writing, so forgive me if my thoughts are a scrambled mess for this is what came to me in this space and time. I shall tell a bit about the last section. First of all I would like to address California as an oversized, dynamic, garden of eden. A landscape irresolute as any, an unfolding carpet I walk it seems to be. I watch the granite land turn to that of volcanoes, metamorphic spires burst forth from the meadowy mountains. Mules ear and sage brush cover the sides of these high desert mountains. The walk from Yosemite to Senora pass was a dynamic walk, the ups and downs plenty, the landscape unfolding new in every step, and bugs...plentiful. Now give me a moment to rant about this nuisance of an insect we call mosquitos, I was eaten alive every day for a week by millions of these little guys, I did 27 plus miles a day, you cant stop or they will try and kill you... seriously they want to bleed you dry! I would hop in my tent upon getting to camp, a deep breathe of relief, they would wait on the screen of my tent outside, waiting for the morning when I would have to come out, they dive bomb me from all directions with vicious anger attacking every little piece of flesh exposed. I need a very pursuasive essay to convince me that mosquitos have a specific, irreplaceable purpose on earth, and that we shouldnt iradicate every last one of them. I heard many stories of hikers breaking down in tears while being attacked by mosquitos, these are people who have indured the desert heat, trekked through the ups and downs of the high sierras, eaten the filth we call food out here day after day for months, and all of that easily more tolerable than this insect. Okay I believe I am done with my rant about this horid creature, and those days are over...I hope...Dear God I hope!
I walked this last section with a new friend, John a very British man with a very British, halarious sense of humor. We came into Truckee (mile 1160) Tuesday dirty and tired, we decided we should probably split a hotel room considering our rank smell, highly recognizable when in enclosed places such as the cafe we stoped in upon ariving to town. We discovered the cost of the hotels in this area to be too high for our budget, we were on the stroll to the cheapest of them, still considerably high for us, we bumped into a lady to ask for directions she looked at us...or maybe smelled us and asked "Are you guys looking for a room for the night?" yeah we are headed to the hotel down the road I replied. "I have two extra rooms and bathrooms at my house if you guys would like to save some money and come stay with me and my husband, I have a meeting then we can head there if you guys would like" she said. I told her we would love to come. I was in total disbelief of this perfectly aligned meeting, we could I looked at john smiled and said "the universe provides" John laughed and said jokingly "maybe mate". We went to Jen and Gregs house, had a glorious shower after 12 days without, a steak dinner, and some good conversation with new friends. I am in constant thankfulness for people like Jen and Greg, people who believe in doing good in the knowing that they will be shown good just as they have given. I will go back to the trail again tomorrow, leaving my family for another few months, there is no abscense of love when there is separation, love is not bound to the physical presence, love excedes all bounds, this I have come to believe in more fully on this walk. May all of you be rooted in that which you love, and followed by that which is good.
- Sagi
