A Chores Day Done Right
There is something deeply satisfying about a good chores day. Not every chores day earns that label, but this one did.
We rolled into San Bernardino and knocked out the full reset: groceries, laundry, van wash, PetSmart run for the babies. The kind of day that does not sound exciting but feels incredibly productive when you live out of a van. And then, the real highlight: Ethan’s first In-N-Out Burger.
I had my first In-N-Out years ago when I volunteered at a kids camp in Missouri, so I already knew what we were walking into. Ethan did not. Safe to say, he gets it now. In-N-Out has officially joined our very short list of fast food recommendations, which for the record is exactly two places: In-N-Out and Popeyes. That is the whole list. We stand by it.
The Hollywood Bowl, and What Coachella Did to Us
That evening we headed to the Hollywood Bowl to see Lewis Capaldi. It was the first time at the venue for both of us. Ethan thought it was a small local venue. He was very wrong. The Hollywood Bowl has every vibe you want from an outdoor venue. It felt like a picnic in the best way, and you have everything you need right there inside, wine included. The setting was genuinely great.
Lewis was incredible too. Funny, witty, the kind of performer who makes it feel like you are just hanging out with him. No complaints there.
The issue was us, and what Coachella had done to our expectations.
We were seated far back. Just two weekends after being at Coachella where front row is just a matter of showing up early, far back hits different. At a venue like the Hollywood Bowl, better seats cost more, and we are not the kind of people who spend big on concert tickets when we have other priorities. We are frugal by nature and by choice and that is not changing anytime soon.
But at Coachella, you pay once and then you just walk up. Want to be ten feet from the stage? Get there early and it is yours. You are seeing multiple artists for what you would pay for decent seats at one show anywhere else. You do the math.
Coachella spoils you and we knew it walking in. Still a great night. We just have new standards now, apparently.
We ended up at a Home Depot overnight after. Nothing romantic about it. Just a place to park and sleep.
The Drive That Tested Charlie
We didn’t know anything about Los Padres National Forest, it is stunning. Along with not knowing what to expect came not being fully prepared for was the road to get there.
Narrow. Steep. Relentless. The kind of mountain road that keeps going when you are absolutely certain it should have leveled out by now. Ethan had both hands on the wheel the whole way up. I was doing my best impression of a calm person, because when Ethan is focused the last thing he needs is me adding to the stress. Charlie just kept climbing. There was even one incline that was too steep on initial approach, so we had to back down it to get more of a running start.
We were on off-road tires, which made it manageable, but barely. That was the minimum required and we were in good weather. Bad weather and we would not have been getting out of there. Honestly not knowing what we were in for when we turned onto that road might have been the only reason we went.
Clouds and a Hidden Gem
The campground at the top was worth every white-knuckle mile. Well maintained, recently updated, tucked up in the clouds northeast of the forest. It felt like a place you do not stumble onto by accident. We felt lucky to be there.
Meeting Diva
We had not realized the PCT ran through there when we pulled in. We just kept noticing hikers coming and going at odd hours, late into the evening and gone before we were really up in the morning. Ethan pieced it together. And that’s when we knew we had to stop at the trail to see it.
That evening we met Diva, a PCT thru-hiker just stopping for the night. He had started at the southern terminus and was pushing north, heading out again the next morning. He had done other long trails too, the Appalachian and others, so this was not new territory for him.
There is something about talking to someone mid-thru-hike that just gets you. The PCT has been a dream of ours for a long time and here was someone actually doing it, calm as anything, ready to keep going at sunrise. We did not talk long but his energy stuck with us.
We had extra water and were happy to share. We did not know where the water source was on the mountain but we had plenty and that felt good.
Half a Mile From Losing It All
Here is where things got interesting.
We stopped at the PCT trailhead, partly because we just wanted to get out and look around. Normal stop, no urgency. And it was only because we stopped that we noticed the trailer bag.
It had been dragging on the road for roughly half a mile. The hole was big but manageable and we caught everything just in time, nothing lost off the mountain. But the hitch was taking a beating and the whole situation planted a seed of something we did not fully deal with until San Luis Obispo.
If we had not stopped at that trailhead we would not have noticed until things were much worse. One random decision turned out to be exactly the right one. We did not take that for granted.
Has a random stop ever saved your trip? We would love to hear about it in the comments.
Wandering with Charlotte 
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