Country Mouse and Shadow's Travels: Paying it Forward

June 28th-30th
Shadow's cousin Linda and Mark welcomed us to Sacramento with perfect dinner full of Mendocino wine, grilled chicken, and fresh berry cobbler. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob were nice enough to drive in for the night. It's always good to see them more than once a year.
We made our way out of the valley and up into the Sierra Mountains. Shadow had researched a mountain pass where the Pacific Crest Trail crossed. Packed full of food for the hungry hikers we pulled into Donner Pass. The local ski academy allowed us to park for free. We couldn't have asked for a better spot. Beulah was literally parked in the middle of the PCT. We rolled out the awning, laid out our front porch, popped the portable picnic table, lit the propane grill, and iced the beer.
Within 30 minutes hikers began to appear from Mt. Judah. We used binoculars to spot them traversing down to the trail. It didn't take long before the three of use had a system. After greeting them with a cold soda, they
collapsed in a lawn chair, while we prepared a heeping plate of two hotdogs with all the fixings, potato salad, and baked beans. Dessert was a combination of cookies, cold milk, and ice cream sandwiches. Beulah rocked out with classic rock on her outdoor FM radio and provide the shade. Judy gave the hikers unconditional love while unsucessfully looking for scraps of food.
That night we had 8 hikers spend the night. 4 cowboyed behind the Toad while the others disappeared into the woods until breakfast.
Our second day of trail magic began with Shadow feeding bear claws and fruit to the hikers while Judy and I made our way into the town of Truckee for a resupply mission. More hotdogs, more soda, and brownie mixes. The day continued with a steady stream of hungry hikers. By days end we had helped 30 thru hikers from as far away as Israel and Norway. One hiker (Frost) carried a Ukelele with him. We compared ukes and stumbled through songs that we each had been practicing. I sent Frost on his way toward Canada with some Neil Young and Cat Stevens songs. We had another hiker who wanted to know how I made the brownies chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Shadow told him it was all in the 1999 propane oven inside of Beulah. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was simply the cheapest brownie mix I could find. A girl in her twenties that was trying her hardest to stay above 100lbs asked if she could have some watermelon after she had her plate of two hotdogs, ice cream sandwich, and brownies. Shadow cut the watermelon in half, stuck a plastic fork into the center, and handed it to her. See the photo below.
It felt great to be able to help the hikers this weekend, but deep down Shadow and I both wished we were out there with them. Before heading out we decided to take a quick 4 mile hike South on the PCT before leaving this morning. The trail traced through ski slopes, views of clear lakes, and large trees with moss covered trunks. We are finally getting to the part of the country where we could live...for a while.
Beulah's brakes smoked as we came down the pass and merged back onto I-80 towards Reno. It's amazing to see the dramatic change in vegetation. One turn North on state road 95 and we found ourselves in Winnemucca, NV. Home to the world's largest potato dehydration plant. The two lane road is the only sign of civilization out here. It shines from the heat, and the occasional pull offs are overgrowing with scrub brush. 8 hours to Cascade, ID.