Mr President got up early this morning and left Cricket and I a present of his Stinger waffle desserts on top of our tent stakes.  What a nice guy!

Cricket and I hiked and talked the entire day together. She is very interesting and makes the miles go by without me even noticing. Her dog Chip can hike about 15 miles per day, and then she needs to carry him if she wants to go further. We were eventually joined by Gaucho who is great company. He is one year older than me and works at UPS and as a gardener in Santa Rosa.  I like his calm and thoughtful demeanor.

At one point we were walking through a forest of Beargrass (a beautiful plant that stands about 2 to 3 feet talk with a large clump of flowers on the end).

5 or so miles before we reached the highway we decided to take a dirt road that more or less paralleled the trail.  I would periodically get attacked by one of those huge biting horse flies and would swing wildly at them with my trekking poles.  Gaucho thinks this is hilarious, but every now and then I actually hit one with a satisfying “ping” and knock it to the ground where I crush it under my shoes to make sure it is dead.  I don’t like killing things, but for these I make an exception. They target you and continually come at you until they manage to land undetected and take a huge bite out of your skin – usually on the back of your legs.

We made short work of the remaining miles and Cricket immediately got us all rides into Darby at the highway.  Gaucho and I stayed at the Spirit Inn while Cricket and her boyfriend are going to spend a week together.

I had dinner with Jet Pack, Mayor, Salty, Woodchuck, and Stretch.  I like this group but they are way too fast for me to keep up with.