Sunday, October 10, 2010

An Afternoon in Quincy

I start carving up the birthday cake
Amanda bought for me.
July 16: I took a zero day to catch up with blog entries. I hadn't written any entries since I last saw Amanda at Walker Pass, and the last entry I'd written was due to post. I needed to build up another backlog, so it was another zero day full with chores.

I did get out a bit, however. The next couple of trail towns had no grocery stores, so I decided to shop for food here in Quincy then send it ahead to the next couple of trail towns. So we took a trip to Safeway where I bought food for the next three segments of the trail--from here to Beldon, from Beldon to Old Station, and from Old Station to Dunsmuir. I'd carry what I needed to get to Beldon, mail food to Beldon that would get me through to Old Station, and mail food to Old Station that would get me through to Dunsmuir. Annoyingly, this meant I had to plan out a schedule remarkably far in advance. Not only did I need to plan how much food I would need, but I needed to insure that I'd arrive in Beldon and Old Station on days when the post office would be open! I also looked up their hours of operation to insure I wouldn't arrive too late in the day to pick up the maildrops. It turned out to be an annoying exercise in planning ahead--something I'm not exactly well-known for. =)



Amanda and I went out for lunch to a cafe in downtown Quincy, then went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant near our hotel.

The only other notable thing to mention was a new electronic device that I would start carrying: an iPod Shuffle. For my birthday, Amanda thought this little device might be something I'd enjoy using on the trail, and it's so small and lightweight, it was hard to say no. I've become quite the gadget geek on the trail. First a cell phone, and now an iPod. So I spent the better part of an hour figuring out how to copy about 500 songs from my laptop onto the little device. I may be the last person in the universe sucked into the World of Apple, but yes, I had finally arrived with an iPod Shuffle.

I'm working on this blog. (You can tell because I have
my journal propped up in front of me that I was
referring to.)

7 comments:

kilroy said...

Nope, you aren't the last person sucked in by apple. There are still others left behind.

Amanda from Seattle said...

When Ryan opened the Ipod Shuffle, he said, "This is great, so where is it?" It is the size of USB device. Very small and he was expecting something larger! :-) So it was the perfect size (and weight) for him to take along on the trail. Unfortunately, he could only recharge the battery when in a trail town with a computer. (I did not pony up the extra $30 to buy him the plug in charger for it)

Anonymous said...

I have an ipod shuffle and have no idea how to use it or download songs onto it... may need to make a trip to Seattle to get tech support with it!

Goofygirl

veganf said...

Now you need a solar charger for an xmas gift...your journey to the dark side will be complete.

Anonymous said...

Believe it or not, there are actually several other good, small MP3 devices out there besides IPOD, and they are open-source (don't have to use Apple products). So you can have your technology without taking a bite out of the evil apple!

Anonymous said...

I'm behind you, Ryan... just won my first Apple item ever: an iPad! Not bad for $20 worth of raffle tickets, eh? Now... to get this old brain to learn how to use it. Wondering ... it could be used for AtlasQuest clues on the road, but not on the trail, I'd guess -- have to be in a WiFi HotSpot to be able to use it. That's just what I surmise... haven't actually LEARNED anything yet, LOL.

Happy trails,

Hansenclan

P.S. (Happy Belated Birthday ~ and today is my dear hubby's (aka: WaterLoss Guy) birthday #48 ... he doesn't have a separate identity on AQ or FB or anywhere else electronic, LOL.)

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Wow! That Amanda sure is a generous gift-giver and very thoughtful, too.

I've yet to buy into any Apple products or other high tech gadgetry. I think it would be pretty nice to have some tunes for the trail, though. After a while I'd get tired of my own mind talking to itself mile upon mile.

Hike On!
~Twinville Trekkers