August 12
Off-trail miles: 1.5 miles
Running total: 1319.3
Zero Day!!!!
We spent the day alternating between chores and fun.
We strolled over to a local breakfast cafe, then to a local bakery, and then to the local coffee shop- all were delish!!
We then hitched to Bend to hit up REI & a few breweries (but only the ones that offer free beers to thru-hikers:))
When we set out to hitchhike, we were standing in front of a gas station with this very classy sign I made from supplies I gathered from the gas station. The owner came out and said “you guys actually can’t do this here, you have to go down the road a bit. But also those guys across the street have been calling to you to get your attention for a while!”
Sure enough, two guys were hooting and hollering from a side street across the ways- we waved back, accepting the ride from afar, but they were struggling to make the turn onto the main street. Meanwhile we were joined by another hiker as another car pulled over- we ended up all piling into this second car and made our way to Bend.
At the REI we again ran into Gigs, Animal, and Redvine- pals from the desert that we randomly ran into in Washington.
After REI we walked over to the Avid Cider, where thru-hikers are given a free cider and basket of doughnut holes…nomnomnom!
On our way over we ran into Fairies Feet and Fraggles, so we invited them to join. We had a nice afternoon chatting with them- it’s so funny how similar I am to Fairie Feet & Matt is to Fraggles! It was funny to note the similarities and commiserate with each other! 🙂
After cider, Matt & I walked over to another brewery, Crux Fermentation Project, for lunch and free beer. Nomnomnom.
We then walked over to a Walgreens and a Safeway for resupply goodies, then hauled our load over to the downtown area for dinner at Deschutes Brewery Public House. I had such a delicious grain bowl- mmmm!!
By the time we were in our Uber back to Sisters it was LATE!! I knew I wasn’t gonna want to leave the next day…
Happiness is: making new friends
Ali Walks Far 