Mile 790.2+9: Independence breakdown

(This may be the most boring post I've written yet)

I have been hiking for two months. You may expect that I have gone through a personal awakening, a personal journey, or some other lofty, beneficial transformation. I am becoming civilization-stupid, retrograding in social skills (which I never had much of anyway). Day to day skills like grocery shopping and crossing a street are becoming increasingly difficult.

We are resupplying in Bishop, and it has been the most stressful resupply thus far. We hiked over Kearsarge Pass to the campground outside Independence, got a ride from Terrapin Flyer down the hill to Independence in Peanut Eater's suburban with failing brakes, and stayed in a hotel (the group decision making process for that alone took an hour). In the morning, Peanut Eater showed up at the hotel right when the Post Office opened, so we rushed our package-opening and inventory-taking and headed to Bishop.

In Bishop, we were overwhelmed by the colors, fanciness, cuteness, and expensiveness of everything at the outfitters, and walked out empty-handed. We were then overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, smells and population density in the "really good" "German bakkerÿ,"(isn't it spelled "backerei" in German?) and ended up with so-so cheesecake and gelato and no bread. Then we went to a deli-with-attitude
for lunch, and were overwhelmed by the choices, music, television, and traffic. I tried to get a hold of Olympus to figure out how to deal with my busted camera, and was told very nicely how fucked I am. When I got to the post office to send off several pounds worth of town items and the camera, it had just closed. It was the straw that broke the sleep-deprived camel's back; this is how I ended up wandering the streets of Bishop sobbing, and left five minutes of incoherent, high pitched blubbering on Amy's voicemail.

Finally, I got to the huge grocery store, and marveled at the selection they had in brand names, not actual products. They did not have tabouli, quinoa, or chai tea mix. I was told by another hiker that the bus to Independence left fifteen minutes earlier than I thought, and saw the length of the checkout lines. Thankfully, I sprang into action and the bus came at my previously expected time, but now I may have too much food. It definitely won't fit in a bear barrel, I wonder if it would fit in two. And here I was going to have no variety! I'll have to see in the morning.

- Typoed on my iPhone