Mile 454.5 is in a little town known as Agua Dulce. The main "strip" is a grocery store, a few restaurants, a bakery, and a liquor store. However, if you take a left right after the bakery and go a mile you arrive at Hiker Heaven, run by the Saufleys.

Every single hiker stops here for at least a night it seems. They will accept packages, provide free showers and laundry, there are cots for sleeping, a kitchen for cooking, daily trips to REI, and all manner of places to sit and relax by yourself or socialize with other hikers. Oh, and as this entry can attest there is internet access thanks to six computers. It really is heaven for people who have just hiked through a hundred miles of hot desert full of poodle dog bush, rattlesnakes, sweaty ascents, and knee busting descents.

I timed it so I arrived here this morning around 9:30 a.m. giving me ample time to shower, sit around and relax while my laundry was being done, and generally just be a lazy bum reading a book. Then I biked into Agua Dulce for lunch and an investigation of the shopping opportunities for food. Thanks to the Hiker Heaven's hiker box and a care package from Mrs. MJ Lohrenz, I am pretty well set for breakfast already. And since I yogi'ed dinner last night, I still have two dinners in my food bag. Pretty easy and cheap resupply here.

After that, I moseyed back to Hiker's Heaven to read a bit more and made plans to have pizza with a group of fellow hikers. Completely stuffed right now after splitting a 14" veggie pizza with No. 2. Which is good since after showering I weighed myself and it seems I am down to a lovely 172 pounds. Of course, I started at 181 pounds, so I can only assume I was overweight when I started. Yup. That must be it.

This entry is sort of rambling. But, my overall point is that this seems to be the pattern to life on the trail. Days of hard miles that can really kick your ass, exhaust you, and make you question why a sane person would be out here doing this...and then a day in a town or at a trail angel's abode where you recover and indulge in every single tempting morsel you can find. Rinse, repeat, keep on hiking.