I slept in a bit, my tent site was soft & in the shade. When I awoke I met one of my neighbors, Steve. We talked about our respective journeys to the Kick-Off (K.O.) and then I spent some time sorting through my gear. There are many small tasks you do as a hiker when you come to a place that has running water and a trash can. Washing your socks, getting rid of your food packaging, getting water - all very important tasks. More on this later. 
 
I met so many cool people today - each with an incredible story to tell. Some had hiked part of the trail already, and others were just preparing to start their own journeys. I'm glad I didn't have too much time to sit around and think before the hike. It was fun to already have the first 100 miles under my belt. 
 
In the afternoon I made my way over to the food prep area, looking to help out with tonight's feed. Volunteers all help and pitch in to make hundreds of burritos for everyone at the party. I haven't mentioned this yet but the members of the Class of 2012 are not charged the $25 registration fee for the event - we are the guests of honor! Here I met "Cookie" and his super cool son "Mooner". Mooner was about 11 years old and he got his trail name on a hike where his shorts were a little to big. 
 
After washing my hands, I was assigned to man a grill. Our task was to heat up #10 cans of refried beans, adding some taco seasoning along the way, using skillets on the grills. As I was heating up my beans, I introduced myself to the grill operator on my right - her name tag said "Gottawalk" which was familiar to me somehow. She told me, "Well, we kind of did it backwards. Ken & I hiked the PCT first, then the CDT and THEN the AT. When we got to the end of the AT we decided we should walk back across all three of them and created the American Discovery Trail, crossing the country east to west and passing over all three of the national scenic trails." She told me all of this without the slightest hint of bravado - I turned out I was cooking beans with Marcia Powers - of the hiking couple Ken & Marcia Powers - "celebrities" in the hiking world. 
 
"Secret Agent" does a great job of directing traffic - he had a small army of folks rolling burritos across the way, people washing dishes etc. - all because they just wanted to help. After all the beans were cooked, dishes done I had been to late - all the burritos were gone! I have to admit I was quite bummed but what can you do. I walked back to my tent to get my wallet - I hadn't brought much for food because I had been told how there was "tons of food at the kickoff". At our campsite I met one of our more recent neighbors - Ken. I asked if he needed anything from the store and he said he'd walk up there with me. We walked up the road in the warm afternoon sun and talked, he was a lawyer and had put life on hold for six months to do the hike. Ken had a great attitude and I really enjoyed getting to know him. I got a can of tamales, some ice cream (always ice cream for hikers) and some fresh fruit which made for a fine meal. Many more people were arriving as the day went on - this should be quite a party! 
 
I made my way over to see "Dr. Sole" a podiatrist who helps hikers with their blisters at the KO. Rubylocks was there & I was amazed when the doc said that this was his 50th patient that day! A gal with hideous heel blisters on top of a skin graft was next, Dr Sole declined to try and mess with that at a campground. Next up was a very nice woman I had met at the Rodriguez Spur campsite - her trail name had been "Helicopter" due to her multi-colored beanie with propeller on top but now she was known as "Blackhawk Down" after a number of tripping incidents! Her blisters were pretty nasty too. I listened carefully to the advice he was giving out, he asked me if I needed help. It's getting cold and my tape is starting to lose it's stickiness, I'm just going to to see a couple more people today. After the horrors I had witnessed, my blisters seemed trivial - "Show me" said the Doctor. I did and he said, yeah those need help, go soak your feet in the foot bath over there for a few minutes to soften them up. I did as he instructed and then he saw me. He drained my blisters and perforated the edges - "It's important not to let the refill with fluid", he told me. I asked a lot of questions and he seemed happy to share his knowledge. He only accepts small donations to help cover the cost of the supplies, nothing else. His last patient of the day was "Cabbie". Cabbie held the distinction of having by far the worst blisters the doc had seen so far at the KO. Cabbie had been treated by Dr Sole yesterday, his entire heel had come off in one sheet, and the ball of his foot had a two inch round blister that had formed on top of another blister! Dr Sole undid the bandage specifically for me to take a picture and there was a certain sly look of pride in his eyes at the magnificence of these blisters. a girl that was standing nearby asked, "Are you a foot doctor?" He answered. "No, I'm a truck driver." 
 
Dr Sole - you are the man! 
 
***Friends - the place that I'm posting from this time has no way to resize my images to make them be uploadable, I'll be sure to do so soon. I've been writing in my journal everyday and will keep posting , should be caught up in a couple of weeks. There are links on my website to my Facebook photos and Youtube videos, which I'm updating pretty regularly - thanks - Jason ***