Day 09-10 03/25-26 Julian

We decided to wake up early and book the last 6 miles or so to hwy 78 in time to hitch to Julian and catch breakfast before they stopped serving it. I was up as soon as the eastern light hit my tent and was packed and on the trail by 7am.
It went by like nothing, and the whole time I was salivating thinking about going to a diner and getting my first real meal since I left the border. As the trail winded down out of the mountains I could see the highway in the distance, beckoning me to town. Right before the hwy the trail actually was FLAT for a couple hundred yards, a first! I was practically running the last mile or so and had a big goofy grin on my face thinking about what I was gonna eat in town. I felt like a little kid on the way to Disneyland, except I was dreaming about bacon instead of rides.
Hitchhiking was not anywhere near as scary as I thought it would be, it actually was quite funny to watch the people driving by struggling with guilt or looking away. I think everyone was actually more afraid of us. Joe reassured me to have faith, that we'd be picked up within 20 mins. (hes actually hitched over 40,000 miles in multiple countries and at least 5 times across the states since the seventies!!) Sure enough, the first guy without a guilty look on his face picked us up, another hiker!! Thank you Pat and Christine for making sure we didn't have to walk another 13 miles off trail on the side of a narrow winding two lane mtn hwy just to get to town to resupply. Seriously, you guys were awesome.
Julian was a nice little town, and I ended up avoiding another storm and spent two nights there. The town was founded during the gold rush, and they maintain that old west feeling. Now they're famous for apple pies and their orchards. I didn't have much pie while I was there, but I did have eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy and three BBQ bacon cheeseburger meals over the course of two days. :) I finished everything-gotta calorie load when in town, it doesn't happen often! I needed the protein too. I was tired and slept a ton. I felt 90 from the knees down, I hope I didn't give myself shin splints.
PCT hikers- it you come to Julian, stay at the Julian Lodge!! They cut the price in half for us and give us a free meal! You can't beat that. The cost of staying at the other hotel doesn't even compare. They also were willing to arrange us a ride out of town when we couldn't find one on day 9. Tip them and I'm sure they'll go out of their way for you too!