Day 176
I awoke beneath a lone tree a mile and a half west of Vidal Junction, CA. 

I watched the sunrise. I broke camp and repacked the buggy. 

I hit the road.

I ate a few cinnamon buns Miss Bonnie had given me for breakfast. They were so good!

I decided not to let the traffic get to me. It came in waves and pockets. It seemed to be worse late afternoon into sunset. I moved off the road when I needed to, kept the best pace I could, drank lots of water, and kept moving.

Just past 10 a.m., I set up my hammock beneath a railroad bridge for a siesta. It was the only shade for miles and miles! 

I made my way up to an aqueduct than ran parallel with Highway 62. I was hoping I would be able to gather water. It was blue and smelled like a swimming pool. It wasn’t drinkable.

Time passed. I reinforced the shade with my tarp. I sweat a lot.

At 2:30 p.m., I ate some coffee cake. 

At 3 p.m., I was back on the road.

I kept moving the best I could.

and then… shoes.

Hundreds of them.
Mountains of them. There in the desert.

I kept moving.

At 7 p.m., the sun set on the Mojave Desert. 

I found another bridge under some rail road tracks. I set up camp.

Storm clouds rolled in from the mountains! They were sent my way!

I moved the buggy to high ground, tied my backpack and gear high up beneath the tracks, and set up my tarp. I waited.

The wind picked up like crazy, and then it rained! I fought hard to keep the tarp steady in the storm, I was trying to catch water. 

It all happened in about 90 seconds, it down poured, then rain cloud blew away, gone. I almost lost it all in the wind, but I was able to gather a gallon of water! It was a little murky because my tarp was dirty, but I had mosquito netting and purification tablets to filter it if need be. I gathered water in the desert! 
It was such a great feeling! Especially after working against traffic and the heat all day. It gave me a lot of motivation. I was down to 4 gallons of water, and this emergency gallon put me at 5. I had been drinking 3 gallons a day. I had enough to make it another day and a half! I had made it 22 miles that day. It was another 70 miles or so to Twentynine Palms.

The full moon rose and beams of light came down from the clouds. Lightening. Then the storm scattered, the wind ceased, and everything got quiet.