Bert & Marta, our very wonderful friends who have met us on every trail we've hiked, came to see us today! They hiked south from Hwy 138 to find us, Bert using the gps and maps and calculating speeds. So we ate oranges shortly after we met up then hiked about 7 miles to the car for watermelon and cokes, then figs and chocolate.

The four of us hiked on the PCT where it is routed onto private property owned by very huge Tejon Ranch. The very rough trailbed was sadly overgrown and wound meaninglessly up, down and around. It would have been a frustrating hike if we had not been distracted.

The very interesting part of Tejon Ranch is that the San Andreas Fault runs through the ranch. One-third of an ancient volcano plug remains on ranch property while the remaining two-thirds has drifted north and is the pinnacles portion of Pinnacles National Monument between King City and Hollister! Hikers are fast travelers by comparison.

M&B drove east to Utah and we hiked on across the very flat Mojave Desert in the violent wind. It was a good trade for the high temps that we had expected.

We set up our tent right on the aqueduct surface at sundown. We zipped the door and window tightly shut in order to boil water and eat without wind and dust. We slept well in our wind-rocked bed.

Whew, what a day! The incredible wind pushed us around most of the day but we avoided the miserable heat the Mojave Desert can generate.

We finished the last few miles following the aqueduct across the Mojave. At one turn some hiker dropped a bottle of water and a bottle of chocolate milk to lighten his load. Both were sealed, and this being the waterless desert, we drank both and carried the empties. The next corner had a large Gatorade. We drank that and sloshed on. We got to Cottonwood Bridge over the dry ravine where a water cache was hidden under a lean-to panel, topped off our bottles and drank a liter of water each.

The valley floor became less flat as we walked on. I had picked out a low pass that I thought was a good entry into the mountains. Our route ignored my easy pass and the incline grew. Vegetation here looks like that of cartoon deserts: all sand and an occasional creosote plant.

We hunkered down on the less windy side of the mountain for lunch. We ate but sure weren't thirsty. There was a tiny trickle in one canyon and again we topped off our bottles and drank. Again we climbed giant sand pile mountains, our trail joined and crossed innumerable times by dirt bike trails. We didn't see anyone all day.

Our crazy wind dance - stagger to the right, cross step to maintain balance, lean to the left, struggle to get back on the trail - turned into another even more insane dance later in the day. Dirt bikes drive on the PCT and dig giant washboards. We tried walking up four steps, mince two steps, jog quickly down and repeat but that quickly wore us out. Then we tried to balance on the edge of the washboard trail to avoid the ups and downs. All of this was in a very strong wind!

We knew we would not get a ride to town late in the day so we stopped short of the road, camping by the wind turbines. There are tall towers and absolutely gigantic towers and most were spinning according to plan. What a strange place to sleep!

We were not in a hurry to get up because we needed traffic on the road to get to town. The sun slanted from behind the wind turbines and crazy strobe shadows winked on our trail. Last nights strong winds had erased all yesterday's tracks on the trail so we were all alone with coyote, rabbit, lizard and small critter tracks. We all took turns because I looked in vain for signs of anyone eating another for breakfast.

We could see the road in the distance as we wound our way down. We mistook a dirt bike trail for the PCT just once and quickly fixed our mistake. At the bottom Jess, a CSUB professor, drove us to Mojave. The town is filling up with hikers.

A Radio Shack (batteries) employee asked what we thought of the wind. It has been exceptional enough for even the locals to notice! He said 2 days ago it was gusting to 70 mph. As hikers we could have flown to town - quite literally. I noticed signs on stores asking patrons to use the other door because of the strong winds.

We worked on all our chores before we start a six day leg to Kennedy Meadows that is the start of the Sierra! We only have another forty miles of sparse water!

Back up to the trail early tomorrow! Hiker Rule #1: The trail always delivers a big climb out of town when the packs are heavy with food. I have a new ULA pack like Ken's. I got it today (thanks, Brian Frankel of ULA-equipment.com) and think it will help carry gear more comfortably.

Katie L asked if we ever wanted to stop. Every day has some point that we may not like but it is never big or frustrating enough that we want to quit. But every night after a lot of miles we are very glad to stop for the day. When I crawl in my sleeping bag I am always looking forward to the next day's adventure which is why I