Day 60, September 30th 2007 (Mammoth Lakes,CA to Mammoth Lakes,CA)

What a beautiful city. I love being in a beautiful city, but when a family is able to show you around a beautiful city while you are their guest. It makes everything overwhelming with the sites that you are able to run into. After sleeping like a baby, we were able to go on an incredible hike in the afternoon. Breakfast was steaming hot and made the entire trip here worth it itself. Then we drove up to a little over 9,000 feet and started our hike. We were already a little over 8,000 feet, given the elevation of Mammoth Lakes, and so the drive didn't take very long. It was a shorter hike that we were going on for the afternoon, but the hike still managed to take us over 10,000 feet. It was the Crystal Lake trail and it was amazing. Being a guest I couldn't have been shown a better area. It was unbelievable and I had to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. I was over 10,000 feet and was staring around at mountains and directly below me were about 5 lakes. The lakes were crystal clear at this elevation and seemed to be cleanest coldest water you could jump into. It was one of those views that a picture can be taken, but there is so much else around that can't all be taken in from just a photo. Being there, I tried to keep as much of this installed in my brain as possible because this was comparable to everything I had seen in Yosemite. Only this time I was off of my bike and didn't have to pay an entrance fee to get into this place. It was an out of this world experience and the fact that I had decided to stay another day in the area was proved to be a good one with this right in front of me. We went back down the mountain and drove back to the house, where we proceeded to have some great deli sandwiches. I was so happy that I had been able to get a hold of this family, because if I hadn't I wouldn't have been able to meet them or have been able to see some spectacular views of the area. The mountains here, like I said, were indescribable. The rest of the afternoon I spent inside around a fire place and was just happy that I wasn't outside. It seemed incredibly windy outside and it was a good day to rest my legs. I felt exhausted and this was a good day to take off from the road. As the day went on I was able to see some of Tristan's incredible drawings. He was only 12 years old, but had a great imagination and could draw better than anyone I knew. He had been drawing for quite a few years and had definitely come a long ways it seemed. I was also able to select some incredibly great music from the family and was able to throw it onto my I-pod. I hadn't realized it, but the songs had been on repeat for over 30 times at this point and it was nice to get some new tunes. I was really looking forward to being on the road and having something else to listen to, but not as much as I was looking forward to the dinner that was about to be bestowed in front of me. Ann had made an incredible dip with chips that she said was a clam dip. From being able to taste that and every meal that I had already had in this house, I knew I had bumped into a couple of very good cooks. So along with being incredibly amazing people, they still managed to have a few tricks up their sleeve. It was great to be able to see every one's style of cooking along the road and I was taking in as much as I could. I don't know if I had mentioned it before, but I love to cook. Seeing all of these new styles and new recipes along my trip was easily the best education that I could receive on cooking at this point. It was another thing that I had fallen in love with on the trip and was taking in however and whenever possible. The other couple that I had tried calling last night to stay with, Mike and Marco, had just arrived in town from a wedding they were at just the night before. They were going to come over for dinner as well for the night and it was going to be great to sit down with a couple of other adventurers in the area. When they showed up we were able to have some great conversation and then continue it over the incredible pasta that was done. The smell that was from the pasta was new and unfamiliar to me, but was very good in that manner. Pasta was always great to have the night before a big ride, and I couldn't thank them enough for having thought of me in that perspective. It was the best pasta I had ever had on the road. No, in my life. I have had a lot of great pastas, but this was it. Life was great. The other couple in Mammoth Lakes, Mike and Margo, had been to Ann and Joe's place before for dinner and they already knew that they were great cooks. Mike and Marco had lived incredible lives up to this point and seemed fascinated just as Ann and Joe were about my trip. It was the millionth time that I had been told that this was the best time in my life to take this trip, but each time I heard it it was a good boost of confidence to let me know that I had made the right decision. I know that it was a good idea to take the trip just from all of the great people that I have ran into, but to hear it from someone else is what makes me want to stay on the road and not come back. Why not? Well besides running out of money, why not? Mike and Margo were two incredible people that I was glad to be able to talk with while in town. Mike was a Civil Engineer, but spent a lot of time rebuilding houses and then selling them a couple of years down the road. He definitely had the right idea of how to live a good life and his wife shared the same great ingenuity as well. She had started and was running her own business and it was obvious that with both of their mental drives, they were perfect for each other. They had made it into town a little earlier in the afternoon and had done the same hike as we had done in the afternoon. It seemed apparent to me that if you wanted to live in this area of the country it wasn't for the shopping malls. Because they were not around. It was because you loved the outdoors and this was where you were able to live and enjoy the outdoors. I was able to learn even more about the families while we were together and one story I have to share with you. This wasn't about either one of the families, but one of their friends named Charlie. He had gone on a backpacking trip not far from here over a week ago. He had left on his trip on a Tuesday and was supposed to be back on a Saturday. I had been told that when he left on trips like this he usually didn't carry much extra for supplies and so when snow came that weekend and he was out and about in the mountains it was an extra day that they expected for him to return. He had planned on being picked up at a particular point on Saturday so with the weather over the weekend no one was really surprised that he didn't show up. But, coming back the next day and not seeing him raised a few eyebrows. I had met Siobhan in Santa Cruz on the Monday in the week before and they had sent a search and rescue team out for him. There wasn't a trace of him outside and people were starting to wonder what had happened. I left Siobhan's and was anticipating to hear what had happened by the time I showed up in Mammoth Lakes. The rest of Charlie's story could only be described as, Darwin was chasing him. Survival of the fittest was the only way he could survive. From Monday when he had been lost until Wednesday, he waited. The search and rescue team had given up, but he had a few friends that didn't give up on him. Joe had gone with one person to hike the route that Charlie had gone on, and leaving Tuesday was just beat to the chase. Another friend of Charlies had decided to take his plane out to view the area and see if he could have any luck, and he did. Charlie was on the side of a steep mountain. He had fallen on Monday and had broken his wrist so he was unable to go up or down. The rest of his story may sound fictional, but this is why it is said that Darwin is after him. Before falling down the side of the mountain to the little crevice he was in, he had eaten all of his supplies except for a few pancakes. He managed to accidentally kick his food over the side of the mountain, but not before he had managed to set his tent on fire. He was about 12,000 feet up with limited supplies and said that on Tuesday when he stayed awake all night, he thought it was his last night. Being found on Wednesday he had overcome a battle for his life. I figure with his story, I really don't have much stopping me from finishing my journey because he had experienced just about everything and had managed to live. Now I had been given an extraordinary day and was able to cap it off with the best pasta I have ever had. This is why things can really get overwhelming at some points. It just never seemed possible that life could be this great when I first took off that fateful day from Iowa. After two large helpings of pasta, it was followed with ice cream. I don't know if I have ever eaten so much, but the food was too good to stop. I loved being able to hear more of both of the families and was truly in great company. I didn't want to leave because things were so great, but the trip must go on and so it did. I went to sleep on a mattress for the last time following the meal and figured that my next bed would probably be in Las Vegas.

Daily mileage: 0.0 miles
Total mileage: 3,508.0 miles