Days 54 & 55
Miles These Days: 8, 0
Thursday the 24th we woke up, and after a quick visit to Lisa's second grade classroom we were back on the trail from Tehachapi Willow Springs Road. Immediately we were walking through another wind farm. The wind was strong but after the first few miles the trail tended to wind around the sheltered side of the hills so we were able to stroll right along and enjoy the views of the surrounding desert.
As we reached the end of the wind farm we could see highway 58 and started our descent down.
Joshua Trees
We hit the road below and walked the short distance to the highway.
There we stopped and enjoyed a break between the highway and the train tracks. During one of our off days in Tehachapi we stashed some water next to the highway in hopes it would help other hikers. After hiking through, it appears there are a few small caches in this area which is a huge help in such a dry section.
You can see the water we stashed down the hill from twist.
After doing the 8 miles through the windmills to highway 58 my shin was starting to give me quite a bit of pain. So, with my leg not feeling right and a storm on the way to the Southern Sierras and Tehachapi Mountains, we called in and decided to stay another day with family to rest and let the storm pass.
While we were waiting for our ride back into town to show up, we enjoyed a snack and watched the trains chug by.
Shortly after the flurry of military vehicles went by, Twist glanced up the hills from where we had hiked down and noticed three jets weaving in and out of the hills. Before we knew it, and before I could get the camera out, the jets were SCREAMING past us just over the train tracks and not but a few feet above the telephone poles! After our personal air show our ride showed up and we went back into town.
We spent the next day pretty much watching the rain (and some snow) pass by while I kept off my leg in hopes that a little more rest would do more good than bad. However, we knew that from here on out I would just have to manage the pain along with the injury because we couldn't afford anymore time.
-Tailgate
