Sweet Water and Fire

Evening of 5/28: We enter the well guarded gates of Hiker Heaven (aka Jeff and Donna Saufley's place) in Agua Dulce (aka Sweet Water) after passing through Vasquez Rocks. The formations were the backdrop to many movie and TV scenes, including Star Trek and Bonanza. Anyway, once the sniff test by Chief, Daisy, Nelly, Mikey and Lil Chi deems us to be no more interesting than the rest of the "hiker trash," we receive orientation about the conveniences offered here: laundry services with loaner clothes, shower, wifi, laptop station, porta-johns, loaner bikes, postal services, rides to REI, grocery store and doctor's offices, trailer with full kitchen and living room supplied with books, movies, games and musical instruments. It's an efficient operation! Now, like the dogs, we can get groomed, fill our bellies and relax..maybe even get a little rowdy around the bonfire.
5/29: this zero day calls for some separation of siblings. Pain has caused the cry "my arches are falling, my arches are falling" from Linz. She's tired, cranky...so what's a brother to do but push her buttons for amusement. We move from cots to the RV, where she holds up by herself for the day crying, reading "Eat, Pray, Love" and eating ice cream. It was glorious and much needed. Ryan plays piano and watches movies. All better. A community dinner of fruit, powdered sugar, and syrup covered French toast helps. Beer, more ice cream and Forrest Gump help too.
5/30: 6am becomes 6pm. It's hot. We're lazy. Just before beginning the 24 mile trek to Casa De Luna, Mrs. Anderson calls to warn of the Powerhouse Fire in Green Valley. We could see the smoke plume from the yard of the Saufley's but decided to hike out after consulting a "higher power" (Ron). He was sure the trail was far enough from the fire and that we would be safe.
He was only half right. The first day of the hike, the smoke cloud rained down ash on us, which somehow made its way into Ryan's water bladder. Unable to gag it down, he ended up slightly dehydrated until we were able to find sanctuary for the night at the first water cache. Despite hearing stories about a cougar in the area stalking hikers, we slept safely at the cache with Soup Nazi and Dumpster Baby.
In the morning, we hiked to the Oasis Water Cache with is usually diligently stocked by the Anderson's with water and beer. Unfortunately, the fire kept them from making it back up the the cache. No beer for us. As we made our way into town, we walked closer and closer to the fire. We could see the smoke plume ever increasing as helicopters, small planes, and even converted commercial jets dumped flame retardant on the wildfire. We stopped at the local market to pick up beer, Doritos, and ice cream before heading to Casa De Luna. Turns out, they had a slow clap and beers waiting for us upon arrival. We were greeted by approximately 25 other thru-hikers in thrift shop Hawaiian shirts. Suffice it to say, while the Saufley's was a great place to rest up, being "Luna"tics together is a lot more entertaining. We explored the magic manzanita forest, drank booze, danced, body painted, and did acro-yoga (amazing, totally bring this practice back to Ohio) with Kenobi, Bandleader, and Drop Bizcuit. As she does every night and every morning, Terrie Anderson made us her famous taco salad for dinner and pancakes for breakfast.
The fire closed 40 miles of the PCT including the aqueduct alternate as it consumed over 30,000 acres and rained ash. We and the rest of the hikers were forced to evacuate to the next trail angels house, Hikertown. Thank you, Terrie and Joe Anderson for your hospitality to Lunatics and for arranging shuttles to the trail beyond the danger zone.
After two previous stays at Angels' houses, we were anxious to get back on the trail. We only stayed at Hikertown long enough to cook dinner and take several silly photographs of the makeshift western movie set, allegedly, once used for low budget pornos. That place gave us the heebie jeebies. We hiked out in the evening with Drop Bizcuit, Bandleader, Drama, and Rainmaker into the Mojave.