Happy happy birthday!

Happy birthday to my sister Deana (yesterday) & to Keith's mom TODAY!  It was a lovely day today, although our original plans to head on to our next destination (my dad's house in Mattoon, IL) did not work out as planned...

A few days ago, we discovered that our car was leaking oil so after close examination, Keith & his dad figured out what it was, then ran into difficulty finding a place to order the parts (wishing we were back in Northern MI where Subaru's are a plenty), ran into some hiccups in getting the parts, but finally got them first thing this morning.  THEN we realized one of the parts they gave us was wrong, so we're trying to make do with what we've got.  Keith & his dad are still working on it as I write this.  Hopefully it'll work well enough to get us to Mattoon early tomorrow morning....& to North Liberty, IA on Sunday night...then to Santa Barbara, CA after that...

I got a new pack...but it's the same pack!  I was going to keep using my pack I used on the AT but when I put it on yesterday, the frame was bent!  So back to REI we went.  I tried on everything they had to offer & after 3+ hours I came right back to the Deuter ActLite 60+10, although this model is lighter & new & "improved."  I actually liked it just the way it was...but unfortunately company's are always striving to "improve" their products.  It is more lightweight but I miss my side pockets & external straps to secure a sleeping pad (so we added our own straps).  I'll have to adapt, I suppose & stop expecting perfection.

Box in a box & Bailey surrounding himself with our PCT goodies

Foods I'm looking forward to receiving: good peanut butter & fair trade chocolate. Keith: Texturized Vegetable Protein, hah

We've got our 5 boxes all set to go, ready to be shipped to us when we've made it to the planned stops.  IF you would like to send us something while we're out there, here are the 5 places where we'll definitely be picking up a package so we'll be able to accept other mail/packages sent via USPS.  You MUST write "hold for PCT thru-hikers" all over it & make sure not to send it out too far in advance (they'll usually hold things for about a month).  I'll try to keep this updated well enough so you can predict the appropriate time to send things...but that'll depend on what kind of access I can find to the internet.  Our trail names are Scat Tracker & Unicroc...in case you didn't already know that.  :)

Here's are the addresses:

Box #1 - mile 454.9:
Keith & DeAnna Romstad
c/o The Saufley's
11861 Darling Road
Agua Dulce, CA 91390

Box #2 - mile 702.8:
Keith & DeAnna Romstad
c/o Kennedy Meadows General Store
96740 Beach Meadow Road
Inyokern, CA 93527

Box #3 - mile 1,197.6:
Keith & DeAnna Romstad
c/o Sierra Country Store
213 Main Street
Sierra City, CA 96125

Box #4 - mile 1,830.4:
Keith & DeAnna Romstad
c/o Crater Lake Camp Store
Mazama Village
Crater Lake, OR 97604

Box #5 - mile 2,302.8:
Keith & DeAnna Romstad
c/o White Pass Rural Branch PO
at the Kracker Barrel Store
48851 US Highway 12
Naches, WA 98937

Boston peaking through the cat-hole @ Keith's parent's house

"Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together?  I guess that wouldn't work.  Someone would leave.  Someone always leaves.  Then we would have to say good-bye.  I hate good-byes.  I know what I need.  I need more hellos." -Charles M. Schultz