It was freaking cold last night.   We were camped at 7.6k feet, but the temps still dropped to 20 or maybe lower.   My tent was setup on 2 inches of snow and my inflatable pad was not giving me the insulation love I expected.

I had read a few months ago about a guy who brought 2 pads into the sierras so he could insulate on cold days.   As an afterthought, I brought a second pad thinking I’d just use it for laying around on lunch and ditch it at some point.   Well, that second pad sure saved the night for me.   My bag was definitely at its limits that night.  

When I rolled out of the tent, one of the guys had started a fire.   It was a blessing.   All of us were huddled around it.   We’d warm up, run to break up our tents, run back to warm up again.   Kind of comical.  

I couldn’t find Phd and I was sick of carrying his stuff.  Bottom said to chuck it in the fire.  Phd is kind of a douche anyway so why not?   It made a nice burst of flame.   Some of the folks were frowning at me.    Probably LNT ‘ers…but hey… there was no trace left after the burn.  

Hooked up with Zack, Austin, and Dan for the 10 miles to Hwy 18 where we hoped to get a ride.   Zack and Austin hiked my speed.   Dan was much faster, but his phone and GPS batteries were dead, so he needed us.  

Along the way, Zack starts going on and on about a Sizzler in Big Bear.   He is building this thing up like heaven on earth.   Unlimited salad bar, gigantic steaks, multi-trip deserts.   Pretty soon that was all we could think about.  

We made hwy 18 at 12 and stood around for 20 minutes trying to thumb a ride.    Plenty of cars go by, but no love.   Zack decides to get on the other side of road and do some dancing.      That didn’t work either.   Probably the opposite on hindsight.

Finally some creepy dude stops and offers a ride.   Only 3 would fit and Dan offered to stay, but I took the bullet instead.   We agreed to meet at Sizzler.    Turns out I got the W on this one, as my ride shortly thereafter took me to the parking lot ahead of them.   

Sizzler was INCREDIBLE.   It is hard to describe the joy we found there.   Sitting in a corner charging our stuff and grazing for 2 hours.  

I was the first to bail because I needed to get to the post office.   It was supposed to be .4 miles away.  Walked there and it had moved to shopping center.   Walked to the shopping center, stood in a long line only to find that the one I needed was 3 miles away.   Or maybe the package went to Big Bear LAKE instead of Big Bear CITY in which case it is 2 miles in the opposite direction.   

What a bummer.    Well, turns out some super nice lady in line offered to give me a ride to BOTH !    She drove me around for an hour with her two teenage boys and a dog in the back who all totally hated me by the end of the trip.  

Went to the first office, stood in line for 10 minutes…no package.   Next one, took 15 minutes.   The old postal dude shuffles around back for who knows how long and finally returns with my unicorn wrapped laptop!  This lady doesnt stop there.   She actually drives me to an inn and makes sure I get a room.  Her boys were shooting lasers at me from the back seat.

Did a 10 miles, ate a Sizzler extravaganza, had a free chauffeur, and got a room with a hot tub for $40/night (PCT Special).   All is good.  Zero tomorrow.