Ahhh, the Palm Springs Motel 6. It's surprisingly comfy, with clean rooms that have been recently updated; I like the design a lot.
Chris went over to Starbucks and got me coffee; I did a little bit of just downloading pictures to my laptop that Chris brought along, and writing blog entries and looking at my packing list, making a shopping list of things to buy later in the day (a pair of NiMH AA batteries, more Injinji toe socks if I could find them, a sun hat like runners wear with flaps on the sides, more Knorr pasta sides and Clif bars.)
I also had a more serious task: I really didn't consider prepping my iPhone for the conditions, and left the auto-lock to 5 minutes. Somewhere on Fuller Ridge, I butt-deleted about a dozen apps, including ones I now use every day like the Halfmile PCT app. I couldn't remember which ones I deleted, so I plugged the iPhone in and restored it from a backup I had on my laptop.
Chris and I chatted all the time, and he offered to do my laundry. Oh my, my clothes are a bit dirty, but he cleaned them up well and we let them dry in the hot desert air.
I decided I really needed to soak my feet, so at noon I headed down to the hot tub, braving some spring breakers with bad tatts who were heavy petting in the pool. The guy was kinda typical looking, despite a silver nipple ring, but the woman had not only a tramp stamp but Oriental Characters of Mystery down the outside of her thighs. When they decided that heavy petting in the hot tub was in order I decided my hot tub time was up.
We walked over to this vegan lunch place across the street, with one server trying to juggle a dozen tables and lots of diners seated with menus but no food to be seen, and bailed quickly. Next door was a running shop and I bought a hat and more toe socks--these were the Trail variety, which I later decided are just to fluffy and bulky, and the thick anklet fabric easily catches irritating grass seed heads and the like. The Runner 2.0 socks are what I'll be buying going forward, if that's the right sub-brand. Injinji has mighy confusing product lines.
So. Off to shopping. We first went to Walmart, where we were greeted at the front door by the stench of a freshly dropped beer bottle broiling on the 100 degree pavement, like Bourbon Street on any summer night, yuck. I already felt kinda cheap and dirty for going to Walmart, but they supposedly had these batteries I was looking for. They didn't, of course, but you can "Ship to Store!!". Thanks, I'd use Amazon instead and "Ship to Home!" if I were at home. That Walmart was full of so much crap; it felt huge and grubby; I was glad to get out of there. I tried to think about why Walmart is so distasteful, and came to the conclusion that Walmart just doesn't care. It doesn't care about you, what you want. It doesn't care about its employees, or their basic needs (ahem, making sure they aren't eligible for health care by curtailing their hours.) Walmart just doesn't have respect for anyone else. It's a company with empathy or compassion. Blech, ok, enough screeding.
Anyways, after a visit to Target where I did find the batteries, we headed back and I repacked. Chris brought the coke scale (I mean kitchen scale) and I weighed things out in grams and compared to what I started out, not even two weeks ago. For instance, the new stove is 45g, plus 199g for the pot, 244g combined. The old stove is 344g combined--I've saved 100g, or 3.5 ounces, whoo hoo. It was a fun game; I decided to ditch all my non-toe socks, and a few other items. I figure I lowered my weight a bit over a pound; I should really do a "Changing Gear" post to remind myself what I've swapped out and what assumptions just didn't work out when I started down the trail.
I also weighed myself when I got in last night--167.4, about eight pounds less than when I stared 12 days ago. Yeeikes, but I know a lot of that is a bit of dehydration. Still, my gut feels oddly rubbery. I'm losing weight, for sure, but it's coming off strangely.
Anyways, I finished packing and we unexcitedly stayed in for the night. I was feeling much more peppy than yesterday, but wanted some low-key time with Chris. We did nothing more exciting than brush our teeth and head to bed.