Zero day

" zero day" is Trail talk for any day that you don't walk Trail miles. Miles walked to or from the  trail or miles walked within a Town do not count as Trail miles. Zero day does not necessarily mean day of rest. Post offices are not all open on weekends. Timing of town stops around business hours is critical. Before I left Mount Laguna I shipped some gear 200 miles north to Big Bear City. Leaving Whitewater Preserve I had nearly 60 miles to cover in two days to get to Big Bear City post office before close of business Friday. After sleeping someplace different than I had anticipated the previous night. I woke up 28 miles from Big Bear. The first half of the day would be climbing From Below 7000 to almost 9,000 feet. As I approached big Bear I called to reserve a room at a hotel closest to the post office. The Nature's Inn was very accommodating welcoming PCT hikers with a special rate. The Innkeeper Jerry Sheen told me I could have the squirrel room for a reasonable price. After hearing a description of the room I asked how much more expensive for an upgrade to a larger room. Jerry performed Magic and got me the much larger mountain lion room for the same rate ,thank you Jerry. Minutes after that phone call I arrived at Highway 18 got a ride immediately and was at the post office before 4 p.m. that day was filled with surprises. The biggest surprise was that it was Thursday not Friday. The next day was Cinco de Mayo. Maybe I'll get a zero day after all. My first 13 days I hiked 266 trail  miles  that's 10 % of the overall trail .I averaged over 20 Trail miles per day