Day 126

11.5 miles to Lookout Hostel. Today is my 40th birthday. I wasn’t expecting anything, we planned to stay at a hostel, and then take a zero in 2 days with Amy, a friend of mine from When I went to grad school in PA, so maybe I would get some cupcakes then. It was warm, the trail was rocky so I wasn’t in any hurry. When I finally got to the hostel at the first stopping point I dropped my pack and went inside to the surprise of my life. My sisder was there, along with my friend Amy and Sisder’s boyfriend Thomas. Happy Birthday shouts and decorations everywhere. A few minutes later I got another surprise when my traveling and running buddy from Texas-Fonda, walked in!!! Then another friend from grad school, Tiff came in with her delicious M&M cookies!! Sisder had also brought a TON of food from HEB, sausages and about 200 HEB tortillas (iykyk). She also got a burn cake (which I had never heard of) with so many pictures on it, and more pictures under those ones. I am still just absolutely flabbergasted that Sisder did all of this planning and coordinating, contacting friends and getting people and food across the country. Steady has also been sneaky-asking about where we would be so that maybe her sister could join us to camp and feeding info to my sisder, saying things like “so sad I’ll never meet Houston” and then also certainly helping with the reservations and hostel info to make everything run smoothly. I can’t begin to say how incredibly appreciative I am of all the effort of my friends and family. I am truly blessed, so far 40 is looking amazing!!!