Jammin' with Jameson

17 miles. After several minutes, I realized the buzzing in my dream was actually my 5 am alarm. I immediately turned it off and decided I was sleeping in after having my worst night of sleep on trail to date. Right as I was getting to sleep, the wind picked up strongly and was blowing sand into my face the entire night. I got up at 8:20 and had breakfast with Katherine and Tapper who had camped a mile back. I was still exhausted after the Starbucks espresso drink I had packed out and started hiking at 9 in already very hot weather. I was hiking close to Tapdance, Riddles, and Pantry which helped provide more motivation in a very tired and sweaty state. After some uphill in nondescript desert, I screamed when I saw that there was the entire group hanging out with surprise trail magic at the next water source around the corner. A trail angel named Dan kept his morning grill sessions at this all important water source a secret and called it his Morning with the Beatles thanks to the Sunday morning radio station ritual. We all enjoyed the shade and company. I wanted to head out as fast as I could to get more miles in but knew that it was well worth it to just hang out and enjoy spending time with Josh (now Veto) and Pantry, Riddles, and Tapdance. I felt good hiking out and was planning on doing an additional 8 miles. I ran into Sticky taking a short break on the side of the trail and hiked with her for the last few miles of the intense whipping wind of the wind farm. We had a blast hiking together even though it was nearly impossible to keep up with our nonstop conversation with all the wind and effort to keep our feet planted on the trail. Once we got to the first road to hitch, I was convinced to ditch my new plan and meet everyone at Thaihachapi. We got a ride from a trail angel and got to back to town with Veto who had gotten in a few minutes after us. The Thai food wasn’t anything to write home about but it was nice to not be in extreme heat and wind anymore. Sticky, Breezy, Righty, and I got a hotel room and immediately took turns taking showers and de-dirting ourselves. Breezy and Sticky were excited to play their trail games with us like Green Glass Door, Black Magic, Perfect in every way but, and I can bring to the picnic. I could not figure out black magic for the life of me and left frustrated just like they had warned but I didn’t fully hate them quite yet. We hung out and watched Naked and Afraid and got some Z’s.