I slept great in my tent at the TLC ranch.  I placed it far away from everyone else to avoid the commotion.  Eeyore was already gone when I got up so I left TLC alone. I am excited about being on my own for a bit. I feel free to do whatever I want.

I played hopscotch most of the day with Smackdown and his sister Doubledown and talked to Brett a few times. Brett is an interesting guy. He doesn’t talk much but always has a smile and seems really friendly. His equipment is old and he just does his own thing. Pretty cool. I talked with Open who seems like an all around likable guy, and Melissa who is friends with Grasshopper and his crew.  These guys are supporting Grasshopper and provide trail magic to anyone they find.  As long as I stay near Grasshopper and Melissa I get periodic sodas and other goodies 🙂  As I was walking down the road today they pulled up and gave me a bunch of cookies, an apple, and some grapes. I never had grapes that tasted so good and walking down a dirt road eating an apple is hard to beat.

The road walk was quite long so I was glad to see the Cebolla alternate heading up Armillo canyon. Brett was going to go through the lava fields on the official CDT but I heard many horror stories of the mud along this stretch and the weather is looking threatening.  I messed around trying to find the Dittert archeological site, but all I found were some pottery shards.  The weather was deteriorating so I decided to move on.

After 20.5 miles today the threatening rain forced me to setup camp. I was going to camp in a clump of trees but DoubleDown and Smackdown were already in there and I didn’t want to crowd them. I kept going but couldn’t find a good spot near the trail. It started to sprinkle so I left the trail and climbed up to a flattish spot on the side of a hill and made camp under a large tree.  Just as I got into my tent it started to pour. I am very alone here and a fair ways off trail.  I hope tomorrow has some dry spells, but it sounds like rain all day.  Very sleepy.  Good night.