Day 22 Journal:
"Woke up at camp where I crashed late the night before. Ran a few miles and tried to get to the nearest food/water (I hadn't had access in maybe 20 miles), followed stairs up from the beach, wrong way, followed another path up but there was a locked gate. Met a man walking his dog, he told me about his favorite coffee place down the shore. He said of my trek, "isn't there easier way to get there?"
I was just thinking how much better this is than driving!
Spent a long time at the coffee shop, had to upload photos so could delete from phone. Ate every vegan thing on the menu. Got out the door in the afternoon, only six miles down.
Walked through Santa Cruz, beautiful views, saw sunset. Decided to detour to sports store to get extra emergency bivy in case of rain and cold up north. Also grabbed pair on plain insoles, my left arch hurting, maybe too much support in the custom insole.
Stopped by Whole Foods nearby and ran into my friend Eileen!! I had been debating whether to take the detour, this made me feel it was the right choice. I ate a wrap and meet a woman, Jean, who offered to let me stay at her house, but I needed more miles.
Walked on and stopped at Starbucks to recharge. Then into the night. A thin man asked me if I had a lighter, I did not. He told me about getting a PhD at Stanford in aerospace engineering and we talked about my project at NASA with ADSB. He is mostly a fruitarian. He encouraged me to apply at Stanford if I ever want to do a PhD.
I walked on. Very tired I laid out my bivy to the side of the bike trail, but not long after I heard a skateboard approach, then stop near me... I yelled hello but no reply. Angrily cursing I packed up and kept moving.
A few miles later, near a cliff on a deserted park I tried again and slept a few hours."
I heard my name at Whole Foods and turned around to find my friend Eilieen! She had no idea I was doing the hike and asked me if I had moved to Santa Cruz.
My glasses got scratched up from the strong winds blowing sand on the beach. I remember the night I got lost on the dunes being particularly windy. It reminded me of this Twilight Zone episode:
I was carrying about two weeks worth of daily contact lenses, in case something happened to my glasses. I ended up wearing the glasses until the end, but don't think I'll be wearing them again.
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