Rally to Onyx!

Day 35: *Calculations: 93 miles, 74 hrs.*
*It turns out the Onyx Post Office is only open from 7-9am on Saturday, and is is Wednesday in Mojave and we have 93 miles to tackle before the PO closes. The hitch out of Mojave took us just under an hour which set us on the trail at 9:30 am. A couple nice guys picked us up on their way to the "C-ment" yard and they explained that the wind farms supplied energy to LA.
Meanwhile, our friends Todd, Heaps and Monologue were trying their luck getting out of Tehachapi, the other possible town to visit from the junction. Prior to our stay in Mojave, Paul & Ben engaged in a friendly competition with the Tehachupi folk. Todd, our friend from Santa Barbara, describes Mojave as a degenerate leper colony, while Tehachoopi is a shimmering utopian paradise. He somehow conned Heaps, a young gentleman from New Zealand or Australia (We're not sure he knows exactly), and Monologue, a young woman from Alaska, into joining him in Tehachoopali. The game was on-prove to these 3 punks that Mojave is regrettable to miss. We staged a pool party and a hotel party; however, we never got the respect we deserved-only ridicule.
As we arrived at our decided camp spot, we found a note describing a bear encounter in that spot earlier the same morning. the bear looked sick and kept barring its teeth apparently. We quickly pushed on and slept beneath windmills and amongst cow pies. 

*I spotted my first bear while on my way to meet Ben. He got scared and ran off. Then I got scared and ran off.

Day 36:
*More Hikers!!
We met and passed close to 10 new hikers. It seems we're finally catching up to the herd(the big group of hikers leaving the kick off PCT party late April). We met some superb new people; however, if our attempt to rally to Onyx, our time to socialize was limited. Day1 - 25 miles, day 2 - 28 miles. But most importantly, in an attempt to spite Todd, Heaps and Monologue, we gave ourselves Mojave trail names(Less than flattering trail names): Ben=Monkey Dump and Paul = Hamburguesa. Paul also left a message from them, exclaiming over his excitement with the swedish volleyball team in Mojave. Unfortunately, he didn't specify gender. Todd and Heaps didn't miss a beat. Tehachachi crew 1, Mojave 0

Day 37:
*33 miles, sore muscles, our last night camping with Kelly and a 35 mile section with no water. Luckily, there were 2 water caches. 8 miles to get to Onyx the next morning.

Day 38:
*4am wake up call. Still dark, still tired. Wearing layers, hat and gloves, we hiked out and made Walker Pass (the Onyx junction) by 7:00am. To our surprise, there was incredible trail magic from Trail Angel Okie-Girl-an entire set-up with places to sleep, things to eat and drink, fuel refill, and for us, a ride into town. Excellent. We ended up reuniting with Monologue, Todd and Heaps in the afternoon(who renamed us Shit Monkey and Hamburger Ass (Damn, Tehachalupa 2, Mojave 0)) Also, we caught up with Shadow, a friend from Georgia (SSN: What up Marques)

Day 39:
*Next stop, Kennedy Meadows. Welcome to the Sierras. Trading rattlesnakes for bears. Our 30+ mile days seemed to have caught up with us and we spent the day taking long lunches and camping early. 21 miles to Kennedy Meadows, the gateway to the High Sierrras.

Day 40:
*Ben awakes early, and as on most town day stays, hikes straight through without waiting for Paul(selfish, yes, but burgers and beers were calling) And we have finally found water, yes, water. A river, rushing through the Sierras-a fine sight, and only the beginning. We spent the rest of the miles hiking through the Sierran meadows rolling plains of sage brush nestled amongst the mountains.

Day 41:
*Zero day in Kennedy=too much ice cream, beers, and hot food off the grill. Plus some down time with other hikers and heaps of laughs with our hiking mates, Monologue, Todd, Heaps and Shadow. (we're learning the lingo, Heaps, we're learning)

*Heaps also got his trail name changed to Herpes. Our two friends Laura and Ingrid took the bait and continued to call him by his new name all day.
Tehakoochipie 2 Mojave 1