Project Eveningland

5/9/2023 Tuesday

I had one of those magical days when things just come together. It was synchronicity—like drinking the felix felicis potion from Harry Potter.

I woke around 7:30 and puttered around eating leftovers for breakfast. Then I decided to fall back asleep. I thought, It’ll be easier to relax if I have an alarm set because I won’t worry about oversleeping. I’d wanted to dedicate today to running errands and then have deep rest tomorrow. I’m learning this is a good formula for a “double zero.” Or, as I prefer to call it, “two days off.”

My alarm was set for 11:30–an insanely late time that I’d never sleep until. That alarm came and went. I slept until 1:30! Glorious! That kind of rest makes more expensive (quiet, private) accommodations feel worth the money. Then I lucked out and got a Lyft driver (rare in rural areas). He said he’s the only one in town, rarely does it, and just logged on ten minutes before my request. We talked about hikers and him staying busy in retirement. Why not shuttle hikers? He’s got wipeable seats. We don’t mind if people want to put down plastic. He said, “that’s not a bad idea.”

I had him drive me to the hostel, where I did laundry and chilled with one of the best hostel crowds I’ve ever seen. The conversation was top notch. I felt sheepish about going into “professor mode” but give the people what they want! What a smart crowd—absolutely up to participate in intellectual conversation. Nice friendly disagreement too. That’s hard to get in a random crowd.

Bugs, the manager, is doing a bang up job. Such conscientiousness! Such organization! He’s the kind of person who plants tomatoes and takes phone calls while hanging out with us hostel-dwellers on the back patio. He is way overqualified for this work, but loves it. Lucky us.

Frogger, a real nice guy who fixes stuff at the hostel, helped me understand how to remove the chewed strap from my trekking pole. They have a trekking pole salvage bin in the basement. I pulled an old broken one and we got the strap out. Later he swapped in the new (old) strap. That’s a huge deal! Saved me from buying a new set of poles just for a dumb strap.

Alcatraz drove me and another hiker to Kroger, with a stop to drop my groceries off at my rental. I was going to just remain at my AirBnB, but he invited me to return and offered me a lift back whenever. I was happy to go back and chill for a while—that’s when we did the trekking pole swap out. The quality of the company was such that I was sad I didn’t stay at the hostel, which has more private rooms than usual and lots of space. And is super clean. And has fun kitschy stuff that Bugs says just accumulates in places according to the flow of the universe. I’m reminded of “the Great Material Continuum,” a Ferengi spiritual concept from Star Trek which is sometimes called “the Great River.”

I bought and shared a bag of blood oranges. They shouldn’t be in season but there they were. We talked foraging and trail cooking.

My social battery nearing yellowish-green (lowish but not critical), I grabbed a ride back to my AirBnB. I’ll spend my evening resting and eating and maybe talking to Ben. What grand adventures are in store for tomorrow? I’ve gotta hit the outfitter down the road and maybe the post office.