This job of ours brings us in contact with special and amazing things and people all the time. And if that’s not enough to be grateful for, our job – being self-employed – gives us freedom to take off from our desks and pursue special and amazing things. Here’s one example.

Many of you remember Kathleen Neves from when she worked at SkinSpirit. This year, she’s hiking the Pacific Crest Trail – all 2650 miles from Mexico to Canada. Wow! We’ve been excited since she announced her plans last year. And we’ve been self-styling ourselves as her trail angels as she hikes through “our” territory between Tahoe and Truckee.

(Catch up on her journey so far and adventures to come at: https://www.facebook.com/KathleenNeves. You can even sponsor her at https://www.travelersjoy.com/pct2018/ with gifts of as little as $10 going towards laundry, food, and showers.)

We were there to meet her on July 19th at the Donner Pass Truck Stop where the PCT crosses under Hwy 80.

Whew – 8000 feet up, in the smoke-filled air, at nearly 100 degrees – and she had hiked eight miles on the rocky and steep terrain already that day! So we had to do our best to spoil her and return her to the trail the following day clean, well-rested, and well-fed.

We were so, so lucky to get a walk-in rate for a lake-side condo. Lake swimming!

Kathleen wanted In-N-Out Burgers and root beer – done! (Along with a hot shower and toiletries.)

In the evening, we drove into Truckee and met her trail partner, Pierre-Luc AKA Grit, and John took us out for a big dinner.

The following morning, the smoke really settled over Donner Lake:

John made eggs, pancakes and bacon to fill the hikers. We rested and enjoyed the lake. I even had some time to get in a lake-side sunscreen Instagram post for Hayes Valley Medical & Esthetics:

We dropped Kathleen and Grit off at the PCT – mission accomplished.

We are grateful to all our clients who helped us to work around this little trip – changing their schedules and working with the short notice so we could meet someone who is hiking so far. Thank you. And thank you, Kathleen, for being THAT PERSON who charges after adventure and works so hard towards such an incredible goal.