When Charissa emailed me her flight itinerary I had to chuckle. She was flying from a convention in Ohio to Seattle … by way of Phoenix! That might be worth a chuckle alone, but “by way of Phoenix” has a little history directly related to this PCT journey.
After hiking the Appalachian Trail my best friend Dave Beffa-Negrini (Savitt) and I wanted to find a summer job working outdoors. Somehow my connection with having lived in Olympia one year with my oldest brother Pete and wife Connie led to the natural conclusion that we should go there over winter break from college to line up lumberjack jobs for the summer. Yeah, a crazy idea that wound up with lots of crazy results fit for a long story, but I’ll limit myself to the Phoenix connection for now.
Our good friend Dave Hall (Zwiebel) got in on the plan with us. Our first task was to find a transport car, where the owner flies out and has someone else drive out, that needed to be !delivered to Seattle. We tried agencies in Boston, Hartford and New York to no avail. Zwiebel thought he had something when he found one to St. Louis, but I pointed out how far away that still was.
I had given up when on the eve before New Years Eve I get a call from Zwiebel again.
“Kirk! We’ve done it! We’ve got a car going out west! Savitt and I are down here signing for it now. When we’re done we’ll come and pick you up.”
“That’s great! Where do we have to go with the car?”
“Phoenix.”
Silence, then “Phoenix?! That’s almost as far from Seattle as where we are now!” Apparently, geography was not Zwiebel’s strong suit.
“Well, what can I say? We’ve already signed for it. Are you coming or not? Oh, you better pack light.”
“Um, why is that?”
“We’re transporting a VW Beetle.”
And so it was that we headed to Seattle by way of Phoenix almost four decades ago, first by transport car, then by hitching. Oh, and Zwiebel’s version of packing light was a backpack, suitcase, two bags of food and a two-burner Coleman stove. Savitt and I had one fully loaded backpack apiece. That misadventure continued on every bit as foolhardy, entertaining many a thru-hiker on the trail with the full story, culminating in being laughed at when two young, inexperienced easterners (Savitt and I, Zwiebel was just along for the adventure) walked into the offices of Weyerhauser in January expecting to get lumberjack jobs for the summer.
Yet this misadventure was where the first PCT journey was born. At the beginning of our drive back home, in a Camaro destined for Wilmington, we drove through the town of Cascade Locks where the PCT crosses. Zwiebel blurted out: “Let’s hike the PCT!” I remember clearly my response at the time: “Nah, not for me. One long distance thru-hike is enough for anybody.”
I picked up a tired Charissa by myself; best for Cindy to get her sleep. On our practice hike she did not sleep well. I wondered if that was due to being confined in a sleeping bag. We’ve “practiced” sleeping in sleeping bags on top of our bed since then. The first night driving out Cindy did not sleep well in the car, though she slept well during the following day. Her first night here at my sis-in-law Connie’s did not go well for her either. We slept on the floor in our sleeping bags and Cindy complained of back pain the next morning, but every subsequent night here has gone well.
Throughout our practice hikes Cindy does well, indeed she thrives emotionally, when we walked with our packs. Night time and sleep will be my biggest concern for her during this journey.
