Oh boy did I sleep great. There’s nothing like sleeping in a bed after many long days on trail. It’s a kind of peaceful, profound exhaustion that takes over and gives the most rejuvenating rest.
I woke up to an empty house and noticed my power bank wasn’t charging. I did some troubleshooting and found that it wasn’t the charging block in the wall socket, not the charging cable, but definitely the bank.
I had to take some time to find a place in Bend to replace that. Best Buy didn’t have any decent options, but the outdoor store had an option that worked great. Plus, they have a Darn Tough exchange, so I was able to swap out my holey socks.
Before that, though, I needed another shower. I started my laundry then jumped in the shower.
Dirt, man. It sticks. I waited for laundry to finish then took off.
I grabbed some breakfast, I don’t remember where, and walked around town. I met a cool woman, Dryden, at a coffee shop. She was in town for the day with an old friend of her’s. She’s from Portland and likes to pop over to different funky Oregon towns. We exchanged numbers and decided to meet up for a drink later.
I wandered over to Safeway and resupplied.
I walked over to the outdoor store, Mountain Supply, and swapped my socks and bought a new 20,000mAh battery bank, along with some gas. I wanted to get more but didn’t need anything. I just love gear and supporting local businesses.
I walked over to the post office and mailed my failed battery bank back. I tried contacting Anker, but they said I’d have to send it back, wait for them to process it, then wait for them to ship a new one back. So I’m sending it back to Beth so I can deal with it once I’m off trail. Lame.
I got lunch at an amazing Northern Thai restaurant, Wild Rose. I got their street noodles and they were beyond amazing.
Noodles make me happy.
I made my way back to the home and unloaded my pack with the resupply and all my goodies. I unpacked the socks and the new battery bank and threw the packaging away. I repacked my food bag and sorted my resupply. Ketchup and I connected and set up a plan for tomorrow. We’re going to meet up at a coffee shop and hitch back to the trailhead.
Then I grabbed a Lyft to Crux to meet up with Dryden, have some drinks, and enjoy a local legendary Mexican food truck.
The beer was great. The company was spectacular. The food truck was really good.
Bend treated me well. I’m excited to get back on the road tomorrow.