April 1976. I'm three days into a PCT thru-hike with a 55+ pound pack at Mount Laguna Post Office. The balls of each foot are one giant blister, snow is falling, and I'm cold and wet. I decide my PCT hike is over, and it's time to head home. “Home” is a couch at some friends' house in Riverside, since technically I'm homeless and jobless. I stick out my thumb to hitchhike there and figure out what comes next.
That's when my adventure really started.
