April 22 -- Day 5 -- Becoming a trail angel

Since hikers who are staying at Scout's and Frodo's leave for the trail at 6 am sharp, I awoke at 5 am to help with breakfast. When Jan returned from the trail head around 9, she and I and Brittney (a hiker leaving tomorrow) went to Jan's church kitchen and made 24 pans of brownies for the kickoff party. It took us about 3 hours. Sadly, we didn't get to eat any and had to ride around in the car all day with them in the back, torturing us with the smell of rich, warm chocolate. Not fair!

From there, Jan and I dropped Brittney off at the zoo, then headed to AAA to pick up maps I will need for my new great adventure out west. From there, we were headed to Costco when Ryan (with whom I bicycled) called from the train station. He had made plans to stay with a "friend," but couldn't get in touch with the friend and needed a place to stay for the night and a ride out to the trail tomorrow. Since there is NOTHING these people won't do to assist hikers, Jan volunteered to pick him up and give him a spot on her floor for the night. It was good to see Ryan again, since I hadn't seen him since leaving Hempstead, TX. He is such a cool guy!!

Since we were downtown near the airport, we tried to pick up my rental car early, but they wouldn't give it to me. Oy. It was late afternoon, and there was much more to be done, so we raced home to prepare part of dinner, which would be held at Scout's and Frodo's (where else?). We would be feeding 30 people. Ryan and I got the unenviable chore of cutting the brownies, which we were not allowed to sample. Okay, maybe I snuck a crumb, but don't tell Jan.

Just before dinner, Three Gallon and Cucumber Boy offered to take me to get my car on their way to pick up hikers at the airport. On my way back, Scout called: "Can you come to the rescue and pick up a stranded, homeless hiker at the airport?" Apparently, this guy had flown in with no plans. Imagine that. Three Gallon and Cucumber Boy had seen him and talked to him, but didn't have room in their car to take him, so Scout called me. San Diego is an enormous city with a maze of freeways running every which way. "Only if you can tell me how to turn around and get back on the freeway without ending up in Mexico," I replied. And so I spun around on the freeway during rush hour and headed to the airport. The SD airport is probably the easiest, least-confusing airport I've ever navigated. Miami is an absolute nightmare, but this was a breeze. Thank goodness.

I did, however, manage to take a wrong turn and ended up going south on the freeway, instead of north, but I quickly recovered, and we were back on our way. We then scurried back to Scout's and Frodo's, where I sucked down some dinner they had kindly saved for me, then I was off to the airport again to pick up two hikers that I had previously agreed to shuttle. After a run to the store for them to stock up for the weekend, I went back to Scout's and Frodo's and picked up another group and took them to REI, which is a major outdoor gear retailer. After that, I collapsed into my bed. I will be taking a group to the trail in the morning, so I need my beauty rest.