07-19-2024 Hike

Up a little before 5:00, no rain during the night. Joe was up shortly after, and we broke our camp. I cleaned off with wipes, then I packed up the stuff going into my bag and oversaw breakfast prep. We finished packing up and were moving by 7:15. We stopped about a half mile in and filled up on filtered water for the hike down. Nothing super memorable about the return hike, Jason and we talked for most of it, we have a fair amount in common. We ended up taking the lower trail that led us into the campground, where we stopped at the general store and Jason bought an expensive shower. Mike and I walked back to the car and chatted about his high school time as an athlete and his stepkids from the first marriage. The two of us changed up at the parking lot, then drove back to the general store where the others were waiting. Joe changed and we packed the stuff into the truck, then drove to a nice picnic area and drank 2 pints each, which loosened us up quite a bit. This was a fun conversation, everybody was happy to have completed the hikes successfully. It was fun and interesting to see Joe in a more casual, guy mode. He can be loose, especially after a little alcohol. We were all pretty buzzed after the beers at the end of the hike. We then drove down into Lone Pine and had pizza at the Pizza Factory, tasty. On to Indian Wells, where stopped again at Indian Wells Brewery before it closed. On the drive down there, Jason played a bunch of one-hit wonder songs and we tried to guess who had performed them. After the brewery stop, where Jason and Mike played cornhole while we had beers, I drove Mike's truck, since he had had several beers in quick succession. The two of them in the back were pretty loose and sang along to the songs on the playlists on their phones. We stopped for a biobreak and gas in Adelanto at the same gas station we had stopped at on the way up, then I drove us home. A little bit of traffic on the section of the 60 that is shared by the I-215, and we had a couple of slowdowns on I-15, but it wasn't too bad. We got back to Joe's house around 8:40, where Ann and Cathie were waiting for us (it turns out that Cathie tested positive for COVID on Saturday morning). I was pretty tired, so I moved my stuff from Mike's truck into our car, then Ann drove us home. I unpacked my overnight back when we got there, had a shower, then read for a short while before falling asleep. Ann kept reading. Later on, I woke up, and we had some amazing sex (<>!) before I fell asleep again.

Total distance = 7.1 mi

https://www.strava.com/activities/11930156313