PCT Day 123, Double Flip and a Flop, Day 42

August 13

Surprise zero day:)

Off-trail miles: 1.5

Running total: 1320.8

When we woke up we decided that if the Airbnb was available another night, we would take another day off…and it was so we did! Sometimes things just seem so right!

As we set off for breakfast at Sisters Coffee Company I noticed that the key ring only had 1 key on it- yesterday there had been two. I had sworn that there were two when we got home late the night before, but I didn’t actually check, so were there two?? And if there were two, where did the other disappear to?!? There had to be two- when we got home I was so excited that I guessed the correct key the first time! Or did I just guess correctly ’cause there was only one key? Shit…when was the last time I was absolutely positive that I had both keys?? We searched everywhere in the house & outside…nada.

Ugh. Ever have the universe tell you things? Yesterday it kept throwing keys at me! First we were at Walgreens and somebody was walking around with a keyring that sounded like my mom’s- her keys make such a distinct jingle that I honestly thought she had come to the Walgreens in Bend, Oregon to surprise me! & then as we walked to downtown Bend I saw a key in a set of mailboxes- it looked as if the mailman had accidentally left the master key in the mailboxes & I pointed it out to Matthew. Never did I think about confirming that I had my own keys…

Matt was cranky and I was stressed as we continued to breakfast. I called some of the places we had visited the day before and nobody had found a single, silver house key. Awesome. I practiced my speech for informing our hosts that we lost the key, dreading disappointing somebody & ruining my {nearly} perfect Airbnb streak! Grrrrrr.

To make some positive progress I called a local trail angel to ask for a ride for us to the trailhead for the next day- the lady was currently vacationing in Alaska but sent out a mass- text to all trail angels near Sisters and within minutes Papa Homie called back to offer us a ride- we arranged a 7:15am pick-up at our Airbnb. Nice!!

We then walked over to the post office to send all of our extra healthy food home. There we checked out the Hiker Box- we think a local trail angel stocks it, ’cause it was amazing!!!! Pro-bars, Snickers bars, fresh fruit, etc! (A lot of the stuff we bought the day before…grr!)

When we got back to our airbnb, as I opened the door, the house key fell off of the keychain- this gave me hope that maybe when I opened the door the night before the other key fell off and through the crack in the deck, but also made me realize that the key really could have fallen off anywhere between Bend and Sisters. Grrrrrrr.

Finallllly, Matt ended up finding the key in an empty grocery bag- thank goodness & thank you Saint Anthony! With the key found we were able to spend the rest of the day truly relaxing…

Matt enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner pizza, we both enjoyed the local ice cream joint, and we completed the night with a Netflix binge. With season 3 of Stranger Things complete, we went to bed ready for an early morning