Day 220

I finally get to get back on the road today. I ate as much free breakfast as I could eat and then headed outside. A woman was walking in and she stopped to talk. She lives close to the Pacific Crest Trail and does trail angel stuff sometimes for the hikers. I told her the biggest thing she could do for me was to help me raise awareness so she took my photo and made a post on Facebook about my cause. 
I had a pretty wide shoulder for the first part of the day. The highway is very busy at this part. I wasn’t paying any attention to the traffic though. Only enough for safety purposes but I was in my own little world on the shoulder. I saw a car pull up and it was a pretty woman who got out to give me some cold water and a few bucks. She gave me a hug when I told her about my sister. I told her thank you for being so nice and we went our separate ways. 
I got to a point where I had a choice to make. I could either stay on the busy highway or roll the dice and take this road that appeared to connect back with it later on. I took the chance. I wanted to have a little peace and it worked. This road called Pioneer Way was just beautiful. It turned to gravel but it was ok. I was able to listen to my radio and walk in the middle of the road without a care. 
I think I saw 1 car in 3 hours. It was heaven. I saw a bunch of cows and they all got up and ran up to me. It was strange. like they were waiting for something. Probably food. All I had to offer was a speech so I practiced speaking in front of them as if they were my audience. They seemed interested. It was fun. 
I got back to the main highway and there was a gravel road alongside it. I think it’s where the road once was and then they built the new road next to it. Perfect. I had my own road. I was loving today. After going about 16 miles, a car pulls up and it was Wendy and Steve. Wendy has been following me on Instagram and told me that she wanted to do something nice for me. She sure did. She brought a bunch of really good hiker food and $20. We talked for a while and I got some info on what was ahead. Very happy I got to meet her. 
A little ahead, the road I was on was washed out so I had to get over to the main road. it was complicated but I made it. Then I walked on the road for a while until the gravel road appeared again. I hated being on the main road. I was glad the gravel road came back. 
Not much farther was a huge lake. it was mostly dried up. I started looking for places to camp and realized that I could actually go down to where the lake bed is and camp on the soft sand. I found a great spot and that was that. A nice soft ground, some good stumps to sit on, and food that I didn’t have to make. Perfect day on the road!!