The Last Box by Eva

Life is short and we have never to much time

for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling

the dark journey with us. 

Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Today I packed the last resupply box I will be sending Loren. It is going to Stehekin, Washington and will contain what he needs for the last 5 days of his journey. Along with 5 days worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners, it also includes maps of the section he will be hiking, batteries to use in his iphone recharger, a butane/propane canister to make hot water, vitamins, IBU, 1/2 a roll of toilet paper, a new toothbrush and travel sized toothpaste, some cash and 5 Q-tips. 

I've really enjoyed my role as Base Camp Manager. It's allowed me to experience the trail in a unique way. I asked Loren recently how hikers without support get everything they need. Some trail stops have small grocery or travel stop type of stores where they can resupply. But many have only small post offices with no options for purchasing food or other items. In these cases, non-supported backpackers must constantly plan ahead by purchasing the food they need immediately, as well as buying food to prepare a package to mail ahead to themselves at destinations with no other options. This really gets tricky, especially when one of your needs is 5 Q-tips. I hear you asking, "What does a backpacker do when you have to buy 25 Q-tips even though you only need 5?" I'm not sure if Loren has mentioned this in prior blogs, but most major resupply stops also have a "Hiker Box." This is another way that hikers help each other on the trail while wasting nothing. When you have next to nothing, wastefulness is not an option. 
Now, as I schedule out a day to run this last resupply box to the only post office that doesn't give me grief over the butane/propane canister inside the box, I also get to plan my last job as Base Camp Manager- bringing Loren home. My plan at this point is to meet him at Manning Park, British Colombia on September 17. You can bet there will be lots of hugs and kisses included at that stop. And yes, I'll add one from each of you.  XOXO for all of you who have joined us on this incredible journey. 

There's No Crying in Disneyland by Eva

This week a disc jockey on the radio shared about his trip to Disneyland. The disc jockey said that he observed a child there crying because she wasn't being allowed to push the stroller. There she was in the middle of Disneyland and all she could do was fret over some insignificant thing like her stroller! 

It reminded me of a book I read some months ago called Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson. The book challenged me to consider my life as a story full of excitement, love, sorrow, intrigue and all the things that make a great novel. I am the main character in my novel and it's written by God himself just for me- and the excitement of each new day is to find out what that day's chapter has in store.  I'm pretty good at enjoying my personal novel in the good times. But I often forget this in the day to day.  I know Loren is experiencing and fully enjoying his novel right now. Even though he may be suffering from a few blisters, sore muscles and mosquito bites, he continues to call me with an excitement in his voice because of all he is experiencing. 

This chapter in my novel is unique to any I've ever been in before. It includes lonely times, new challenges, disappointments, delicacies never savored before, trips to places I've never been before and an unshared bed. But it's my novel and as Wilson writes, "Scene after scene is given to you and the teeming universe in the audience waits for your reaction, for your line, waits to see if you'll yell at the fat-faced child who spilled the milk, or if you'll laugh and kiss a cheek... What will your character do when the petty things happen, when your car betrays you in the cold? When the pipes freeze?" and may I add, "When your husband leaves for five months to participate in a new chapter of his own story." 

So if you hear me whining because I miss my hubby, just remind me... There's no crying in Disneyland!

Together Again-By Loren and Eva

Mr. and Mrs. Butter Fingers

I'm at mile 1,424 in Burney Falls State Park, which is famous for the water falls you see behind the lovely couple in the picture. I have not seen the water fall yet because I am enamored with the ice cream and soda in the general store. I am hot, hungry, thirsty, dirty, and waiting for Eva to pick me up. I'm not walking another mile in these shoes!

When I picked Loren up at the general store, it was so good to see him. Unfortunately, besides dirty, he was also stinky. Funny that he didn't seem to be aware of it, nor did the other thru-hikers making use of the general store. The employees at the store diligently sprayed air freshener every time one of the hikers left the store.

Eva rented a room in the small town of Burney, 8 miles from the state park. She suggested my first task might be to take a shower. She is really catching on to what hikers are looking for in a motel because it had an excellent laundry room with a utility sink to pre-wash socks and wifi for updating my blog, photos, and videos.

Loren is pretty easy to please these days. I guess after sleeping on the ground without a shower for days on end changes your priorities. Things I look for in a motel is a laundry room, jacuzzi spa, wifi, a place close to the trail with nearby restaurants. Burney is a small town so no jacuzzi but I was able to get everything else. Judging from all the other hikers at the motel, most thru- hikers are looking for the same amenities.

Along with food and supplies for the next section of the trail, Eva brought me a new pair of SHOES! My old pair had holes in them and the mid-soles were so worn out that I could literally feel the tread pattern on the sole of the shoe. I was showing off my new shoes to some other thru-hikers in town and they commented on the unique tread pattern by noting that they have seen it on the trail for miles and had no idea they were following me. (I have seen only one other hiker wearing the same shoe style/brand as I am.) 

I've never seen Loren so excited about new shoes. I'm normally the one who comes home excited about the shoes I found that "I had to buy." Loren mentioned how nice his shoes felt several times over the last couple of days. We even walked on the road instead of the dusty trail when we visited the water fall so that his shoes would stay clean and pretty. They won't stay clean for long though. The trail is hard on shoes especially the hot lava rock areas where it can literally melt away the sole. I already have another pair at home ready for him when he needs them. A good pair of shoes is a thru-hikers best friend, unless you are Baja and have decided to hike the trail in flip-flops. This only because he couldn't do it barefoot which was his original plan.

Eva also delivered a care package from the Planet Kids Christian Preschool full of goodies along with notes and cards from friends and family. Thanks everyone for your love and support. Since I reached the half way point on Monday, July 14, I have been imagining what it will be like to finish the trail and return home. I am hiking faster now and I will complete the second half of the trail faster than the first half. I am 275 miles from the Oregon border and Washington is another 450 miles away. I hope to complete the 725 miles to Washington in 30 days. That is an average of 24+ miles every day for 30 days. I will meet Eva again when I get to Oregon/Washington border and we will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Then it will be a mad dash to Canada to beat the snow.

In case you didn't notice what I am wearing in the above picture, the shirt says, "Suck It Up, Buttercup." I got the shirt from a friend who read these two blog posts: More Burned Forest and Brutal Day. I love the shirt but I must admit, I would be doing more than a little whining after 1,400 miles.

Well...it's time to wrap up this blog post! I have enjoyed a zero day with Eva and I return to the trail tomorrow. It's getting late and she still has to give me a back massage. I am so spoiled!

Lesson's Learned Off the Trail by Eva

After reading the book of Proverbs, I thought I too would share the wisdom I have learned over the last 80 days without Loren...

1. The modem and router are not the same thing and my modem is hidden behind my printer. Who knew? (Loren: Actually, it's the router that's behind the printer, ha, ha.)
2. Weeds grow to an astonishing height if not taken care of.
3. iCloud does not have an unlimited amount of storage.
4. You can get close to elk but keep your distance from moose.
5. A 7 mile hike is too far for a dog when they add at least 3 more miles running up and down the trail. Poor Holly!
6. The City of Modesto will send someone out to investigate an overflowing street drain even on a Saturday.
7. Adding a dog door can be a costly idea. Just start by cutting a hole in your wall and forget all the other online ideas. Trust me!
8. Falafel is yummy.
9. Listening to a book on CD can make a long drive seem shorter. Check out your library for an endless supply of them.
10. A hummus plate with carrot sticks, broccoli, marinated olives, grapes and pita chips makes a wonderful dinner on a hot summer night.

High Calorie, High Fat-By Eva

It was so nice to spend time with Loren in Mammoth Lakes this week. It almost felt like a regular summer vacation spent in our favorite vacation spot. There were a couple of reminders that this was not the usual summer vacation though... 1. Loren's handsome beard, and 2. Loren's a bit skinnier than the man I left at the border. He is so skinny in fact, he can take off his jeans without unbuttoning or unzipping them! So, of great importance during our few days together was getting Loren to eat as much as possible with the hopes of adding a few of those lost pounds back. Each meal included the highest calorie and fat counts possible: re-fried beans instead of black beans, white flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas. Each meal also included dessert and of course some chocolate from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to wash dessert down. It reminded me of poor little Violet from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. "You're turning violet, Violet!" The poor guy rolled out of our favorite restaurants just like Violet did. 

Now as I head back home and continue my role as Base Camp Manager, I am scouting out higher calorie, higher fat options that I can put into his resupply boxes. Funny that I can't find a single product wrapping that boasts this fact. Everything says "Lite" or "Low calorie". 

Thank You Mrs. Butter Fingers!

Eva, have I told you lately how much I love you? My amazing wife is doing an awesome job supporting my Pacific Crest Trail hike. Taking care of things at home, helping with my blog, buying, and preparing food for the trail, mailing me resupply boxes, replacing gear that wears out or gets lost, meeting me along the trail, and encouraging me everyday with phone calls and texts...even if I can't read them because of limited cell service. I tell everyone on the trail about my wife and they agree I have the best wife a hiker could ever want! Readers who know Eva, please let her know how amazing she is and continue to encourage her too. She is the love of my of life and I can't wait to see her again...just a few more miles down the trail!

Which Way Did He Go? by Eva

The Butter Finger Support Team continues to grow in numbers and influence around the world as this week we added Lithuania and the Ukraine as new friends. This adventure has become more than just my husband's adventure, but many of you have made it your own, following faithfully by reading the daily blogs, tweets and responding to his Facebook posts. It's your prayers, comments and emails that are encouraging him and he is excited about every contact he has with friends and family. 

Now that Loren will be coming through our neck of the woods soon, there are many of you who have expressed an interest in meeting him on the trail and possibly even hiking with him a few miles or even days. Here's the schedule...

June 18-22--- Relaxing in Mammoth Lakes, CA 
June 24--- Hiking through Tuolomne Meadows, Yosemite
June 28--- Arriving at Sonora Pass at Hwy 108
July 3---Arriving at Echo Lake in South Lake Tahoe

If you are interested in meeting Loren at Sonora Pass, Meshell Cruz is putting a group together. She is the person you will want to talk to. You can email Meshell at Hope2give@sbcglobal.net.
Or give her a call at (209)480-5228.

If anyone is thinking about meeting Loren in Tuolomne Meadows, please let me know so that I can pass that info on to him. I would hate for him to miss you because he doesn't know to be looking for you. 

Keep Holding On! by Eva

Over 500 miles now. What an accomplishment!

Hike on! You're support team is cheering you on Butterfingers.

You're not alone

Together we stand

I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand

When it get cold

And it feels like the end

There's no place to go

You know I won't give in

No I won't give in

Keep holding on

'Cause you know you'll make it through, you'll make it through

Support team note: if you can't view the video above from your cell phone, try your computer. It's worth watching. :)

Growing Support by Eva

It's been fun seeing the growing number of people following Loren's blog and Facebook posts over this past week. Loren's doctor weighed in on his twisted ankle and even Toney, the lady at the post office, is now following the adventure. Toney has been great about helping me get Loren's resupply packages to him. In fact, earlier this week Loren's blog recorded a record 300 page views for one day! You all have been awesome at cheering him on and backing him with your prayers and support including cards, food, and candy bars (Butterfingers of course).

I don't believe we will see a new blog in the morning as I don't think he has cell service right now. For those of you asking about the whereabouts of Lost and Found, last I heard, he was suffering from knee pain and having to slow down.  He never caught up with Loren and LoveLine following the lost trail poles incident. Loren has been keeping in contact with him through email and is hoping to meet up with him again. He really enjoys Lost and Found's company on the trail. Instead Loren is now enjoying the company of LoveLine and Slaughterhouse. I'll leave you hanging on the meaning of Slaughterhouse's trail name. Maybe you'd like to guess??

Last I heard the fires in San Diego are not affecting him. It does sound as though one of the fires is burning in El Cajon which is an area he just walked through 2 weeks ago. Pray with me that he won't have to deal with fire during this very dry year. 

Thank you all for the incredible support you have given Loren. I know that it's been a great encouragement to him. I may be Base Camp Manager but you are most certainly his Support Team. Cheer on team! 

Keep Calm and Blog On by Eva

It’s been a quiet few days as we all wait word on the latest from Butterfingers. Fortunately around 8:30 tonight I finally got a call that all is well and he is hunkered down in his tent waiting out a snow storm at about 9000 feet near Big Bear City. He continues to write posts, but can’t download them to Blogger until he reaches a spot where he can access internet. Once he does, we will all have some catching up to do.So as we all wait, I thought it would be a good time to write a post about the blog because it truly is fascinating.  

Here are a few statistics you might enjoy knowing…

• There have been 6,511 page views since the first blog with a tremendous spike in views occurring during the last two weeks with 110 to 150 people reading on a daily basis. Even as I write this post, 8 people are looking to see what’s new.
• Butterfinger’s post titled, “The Desert” has received the most page views. And his post, “Butterfinger’s Hikes 140 Miles” received the most comments.
• And here’s the truly fascinating part…people from all over the world are reading Butterfinger’s blogs including the United States, Spain, China , Canada , the United Kingdom , Germany , Russia, the Czech Republic, Belgium and France. If you are from outside the United States, we would love to get a comment from you and find out who you are.  :  )

Keep sharing Loren’s blog site with your friends and family and let’s see if we can get the readership up to 200 daily and across even more countries.

Keep calm and blog on!

Looking for Cheerleaders by Eva

I have been told by several these last couple of weeks that Loren has become an inspiration to them. They look forward to his daily blogs, facebook messages and tweets. I got a call from Rebecca the other day asking how to post a comment to one of her dad's blog posts. I filled her in but realized that there may be others out there who would like to do the same but have not been able to figure out how. As Loren enters the Mojave desert, this would be the time to let him know how hot he is. Hmmmm... you better leave that up to me. But please think about sending him an encouraging word. Don't be shy. 

If you are viewing his blogs through his website at wiredwild.net you can go to "BLOG" at the top of the screen and then hit the "Blogger" in blue (next to "Best Viewed On:"). As you scroll down to the bottom of each blog you will see a "View Comments" or "Add a Comment" button. Read what others have written and then join in on the fun by adding your own in the "Enter Your Comment" box. Hit "Publish" and it will post (as soon as I approve it). Don't be afraid. Give it a try!

For those of you who are still confused or simply afraid of hitting the wrong key and doing something you will forever regret, you can mail him an encouraging card or a high calorie package (hint, hint) at the following addresses by the following dates...

Mail by 5/25 - Loren Mauch
                        5304 Homewood Way, 
                        Riverbank, CA  95367  (I will be hand delivering these)
Mail by 6/16-  Loren Mauch
                        c/o General Delivery
                        Tuolomne Meadows
                        Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
Mail by 7/22- Loren Mauch
                       c/o General Delivery
                       Seiad Valley, CA 96086

Go Loren!!! You can do it!!! And you're hot too.  :  )

Guest Blogger

I thought it might be fun to have Eva write a few blog posts while I am on the trail and busy hiking. She will have a unique perspective on my trip that may be of interest to my faithful readers. Along with being an amazing wife, mother, and teacher, she is my Pacific Crest Trail Base Camp Manager. (The long title makes up for the very low salary.) She has the important job of making sure my resupply boxes full of food and supplies are delivered to me along the trail. On a hike this long, I'll need five pairs of shoes, dozens of pairs of socks, new clothes, and hundreds of batteries just to name a few things, and she will make sure they all arrive at the proper location and at the right time.  There will be sections of the trail where I won't have cell service and cannot post updates, but she can keep you updated on my progress during those times. Thank you Eva for supporting me on this adventure and feel free to share anything you want on the blog, except that time when I... That would be embarrassing!

Can She Do It? By Eva

Loren has left me with the challenge of keeping you updated while he is on his great adventure and sharing my thoughts. I must admit though that I am a bit intimidated by this. Although my boss calls me the "Word Smith" of the office, I fall short when compared to the cleverness of my husband's posts. One of my greatest fears is that I won't be able to figure out how to compose, schedule and publish my posts. This takes some computer knowledge, you see. And I am not the computer whiz by any means. In fact, this would be a good time to confess that I am more dependent on my husband than I would like to admit. He is definitely the one that keeps things working around our home. The other night, in one of my fits of technology confusion, Loren laughed and said he was afraid he'd come home to find me sitting in the dark with no electricity, no television service and holding a flashlight while doing a Sudoku puzzle. I'm making myself sound pretty dependent I know. The truth is, I have a wonderful husband who has shown me over and over again that he loves me by taking care of me. And I've let him. : ) Thank you honey for always being there for me. For fixing my computer when it won't work. For fixing the dryer when it stops running. For fixing the sinks when I clog them. For getting me electricity again when I blow a fuse after plugging too many things into the outlets. And now, for leaving me a very thorough list of people I can call when I need help! And thank you to all of you who have agreed to be on the list. You know who you are.

Eva Is Letting You Go? by Eva

It's 3:00 in the morning and I've listened to my husband toss, turn, pace the house and return to bed many times. Now he has given up on sleep and distracts himself with middle-of-the-night television waiting for the clock to say its time to get up and head for the Mexican border. He's obviously too excited to sleep. This would be a good time to try to finish answering the questions from friends as they've heard about Loren's plans. Usually the conversation goes something like this...

                   "You're doing what? And Eva is going to let you go for 5 months?" 

Yes, I am letting him go. And if you know my husband and have seen the glimmer in his eye and heard the flood of words gush from this normally pensive man as he talks about his trip, you understand why I am. After talking with my friend about it, I've decided the best word to describe this desire within him is Passion- A passion for the mountains. A passion for experiencing God's creation. A passion for knowing God as creator. A passion that few of us understand because few of us have it in our own lives. But shouldn't we all live with this same passion. Isn't it how Jesus lived? Isn't it why he died? I believe this is truly the way God would have us live...passionately!  So I let him go to fulfill this passion within him and to take the time to consider and pray about my own.  And let me encourage you friend, to do the same.