Finally Sleeping After the Flash Flood

This morning we got into town around 3am. Then we got some breakfast and checked into our motel room. After taking a shower I crashed and finally got to sleep. Then I woke up again around 10:30-11am this morning. I was absolutely starving and decided to get up to grab something to eat. We’re taking a zero day today so I have all day to eat, rest, and get our town chores done.

The top of my list for this morning though was finding tennis balls. The only way to dry a quilt or sleeping bag and get the loft to come back, is to use tennis balls when you dry it. I figured it would be really hard to find them in town. But surprisingly the Walgreens right next door to our motel sold them. Which I was really shocked by. Then I got a giant jug of chocolate milk so I can get some calories in. And after that, I returned to the room.

The easiest way for me to get calories in is always drinking a jug of chocolate milk!

I started a load of laundry and then we got the rest of our stuff together to wash our clothes. I did a couple chores and then decided to go across the street to the Asian buffet to get some lunch. But before that I had to call my parents and explain to them what happened. I didn’t want them hearing about it on social media, and I knew that I would be posting about it today. They were both pretty frightened by the whole situation. But they were heart warmed by the way that I reacted and the choices that I made. They know by now that I work well under pressure and I always manage to figure my way out of bad situations.

This Asian buffet was directly across the street from our motel.

Then I headed across the street to the buffet to get some food. And when I walked in, I saw Sparkle and James! I hadn’t even thought to text them because I figured they were pretty far behind. But it was so good to see them. I just ran over to Sparkle and the first words out of my mouth were “I almost died!” She had already known what happened because I sent her a sat phone GARMIN message the other night. But obviously I hadn’t seen her since everything went down. It felt good to be surrounded by friends.

I feasted on Chinese food to pad some calories after hiking 85 miles in about 48 hours.

After eating across the street I headed back to the motel. And they came too, so they could check into a room as well. Then Syrup and I got our laundry together and not long after that a bunch of us went over to Walmart to do some chores. I wanted to do my resupplying and grab a few other things. After that, we came back to the room and pretty much chilled for the rest of the day. I’m so tired, but I also had a lot of writing and work to get caught up on which was hard.

Ice cream with a fried sugared donut on top.

Later on in the evening, some of us went over to Taco Bell together. Then I came back to the room to eat and lay in bed for the rest of the night. This has been such a crazy couple of days and I’m still so exhausted by everything. But I think the plan is to hike out tomorrow. We’ll just have to see.

A very fitting fortune cookie, only hours after getting out of the flash flood and into town.