Days 33 & 34 - A Double Zero in Tehachapi

A Double Zero??
No....I am not injured or ill or fatigued (well a bit tired). The conundrum we are all facing is the Sierra Mountains which have had late season snowfalls. Its been cold here - believe me. With the gateway of Kennedy Meadows only 140 miles away, the problem we have is arriving too early there & finding out that we have to throw out the anchor to wait for the snow to recede. So it's better to stop up here at $5 a night & where there are better options for food &/or catch a movie etc.
I will also cut back on the miles per day over the next 140 miles to 1) delay my arrival at Kennedy Meadows & 2) to be super careful over the next stretch which has waterless sections up to 40 miles apart - carrying 6 litres of water & a full complement of food is challenging!!
The delays mean our group will separate with some even choosing to jump ahead to do the Oregon section then returning to do the Sierras late July. I considered that but like the idea of one long continuous trek.
So here I am in Tehachapi - on the face of it a prosperous town with a lot of new development. It's seems to be built on mining with large open cast quarries nearby that I understand have been mined for gold, silver & aggregate for concrete. It's other notable feature is the railway line running through the centre. The trains are monsters as they carry freight to & from the port at LA. Like the one in the photo they often have up to 5 locomotives up front, take many minutes to roll past & sometimes have two locomotives at the rear to assist

There other nuance is the sequence of very loud warning blasts on their horns when they approach a crossing (you count them in the night)...2 long blasts as they approach, 1 short blast as they are about to cross them another long blast as they exit. And there are no protocols about decibel issues at 2.30 am.
The town is spread out with an older centre well preserved

and a modern retail area about a mile away from the centre with all the usual big box culprits. Lovely people as well & always interested in what you are doing.
I try to stay positive about the PCT but there are three things that irk more than others:-
1. Sand - Southern California is full of it. You walk in it, camp in it, breath it. It gets in your tent, your sleeping bag, your pack, your clothes, your food, your eyes, your shoes......aarrrggghhh. Its been bliss camping on grass the last few days.
2. Finding a flat camp site - get it wrong & you spend the night sliding around your tent not sleeping. Oh & did I mention dealing with the sand??
3. Miles - do you know how hard it is to get used to the concept of miles instead of kilometres?? You look at your map while hiking & see that you have 5 miles to travel. No problem when you think automatically in kilometres - only to realise it's miles & you are looking at 2 more hours of slog. I guess by the end of this I will be accustomed - like trying not to get run over crossing the road (damn cars come from different directions don't they).
Enough rambling. Internet coverage starts to get very patchy so will update the blog when I can...Weta