Written July 29th
Posted August 4th
Well friends, our troubles are over. My retainer is out, we're back on the trail, well fed and rested. We had an overall outstanding time in Truckee and although it was an unintended stop, it was far from unfortunate.
Luckily my dental issue is fixed! We stayed in Truckee Sunday night so Monday morning I woke up early to go visit the local dentist offices. I struck out at the first two places I went, but the third office was super friendly and able to fit me in. My appointment was set for 3pm so we got to spend most of the day hanging out in Truckee. We soaked our feet in the hot tub at the hotel for almost an hour while chatting with The Three Stooges, Sunshine, and Vibes. After we checked of the hotel, we walked around town and picked up a book for the trail. We had some tasty Mexican food for lunch and topped it off with a slice of German chocolate cake from Safeway. Delicious!
When I got to my appointment, the dentist was shocked that my retainer had bent while eating ice cream. He cut through the retainer to relieve the tension on the wire and then removed all tooth attachments. After getting rid of the remaining cement and polishing the teeth, he noticed my gums were swollen from the retainer pressing down on the bottom of my mouth. He gave me some floss and told me I need to floss twice daily till the swelling goes down. Total cost: $81. Not as bad as I was expecting!
We just want to stop and recognize how great of a hiker town Truckee really was. It was extremely easy to hitch, and almost everyone we met and talked to had some appreciation for the PCT and its travelers showing us tremendous kindness and generosity. From the moment we got close, we ran into Reno Dave who handed us a free cold beer, received another free beer upon arrival to the ski resort lodge, and had our lunches paid for by the father of a former PCTer. Once we got into town, we got $25 off our hotel room, free rides everywhere, and even an unprompted offer to stay in someone's home. As soon as we came out of my dental appointment, the first passer by offered us a ride to the trailhead before we even got a chance to get to the road and stick out our thumbs. Every Truckee resident seemed very content with their lives and happy to help out some strangers. The town was set up much like South Lake Tahoe, surrounding a recreational lake in the mountains with several ski resorts, only Truckee is much smaller and less touristy. The Truckee residents are really down to earth and appreciate the outdoors. In addition to great people, there was climbing, boating, fishing, hiking, and biking close by. So for anyone driving through I-80, it's definitely worth checking out. We thoroughly enjoyed our short time there and would love to come back soon.
We really lucked out with our hotel situation since camping wasn't an option. Sunshine and Vibes just happened to be getting off the trail for a wedding, so splitting the hotel room with them not only saved us some money but it was also really fun! This was the first time we had split a hotel with other people. It worked out really nicely and we couldn't have asked for better roommates, we'll have to do this more often!
We had enough daylight left yesterday to get a few miles in back on the trail. After some slight confusion about where the trail began, we found ourselves back on the PCT. We got to walk under I-80 and then made our way into the woods as the sounds of the interstate slowly faded out.
This section has been really pretty so far as we made our way through thick, mossy pine forests that feel incredibly old. Today we hiked a 20+ mile day up and down much of the same landscape. Water is becoming a little scarcer, so we're having to be more careful with the amount we're carrying. This will certainly cut into our swimming time but we can handle that.
We'll be getting into Sierra City tomorrow where we have a couple of packages waiting for us! I love getting mail on the trail :-D
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