Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.
"Sleeping in once again, we awoke to daylight, cool air and cloudy skies. We made a fire for warmth and to boil water for shaving as the restrooms at the camp were only kicking out water of the cold variety. After tearing down and stowing our gear, we hit the trail for the shortest day of our trip at 14.1 miles with a couple new faces in the crew.
The previous evening, a journalist and photojournalist from the OC Register had driven up to embed with us on today's section of the hike. With colder temps than usual due to the cloud cover not letting the suns warmth penetrate, we headed for Ventura. The miles went quick and painfree as we explained who we were, what we were out here doing and why to our newest hiking companion. Arriving at San Buenaventura State Beach, we were greated with a warm reception by a large contingent of the Oxnard Cavalry Chapel.
The outpouring of support was truly overwhelming, they had bags set aside for each one of us to deposit our dirty laundry and immediately it was taken home to be washed by a member of their church. Several grills were going along with one large smoker as they were preparing a tri-tip steak feast for dinner. As that was slowly being cooked to perfection, they had plenty of other food for us to work on. A fan favorite amongst the hikers was a homemade salsa that had a perfect zing which was accented by fresh cilantro and avacado. For five hours, members of the church and local community came out to greet us, wish us well and donate.
We truly couldn't believe the reception and were priviliged to meet several combat decorated veterans from the Vietnam War. We exchanged war stories, they thanked us for what we were doing and our service and in turn, we thanked them for their service. There's an unexplainable scenario that inevitably plays out when warriors of different generations gather and exchange stories, each generation who fought a different war tells the other how their battles were harder and their times tougher. Truth be told, either way war is no cakewalk but I personally feel those who've gone before at WWII, Korea and Vietnam definitely faced harder times than I did.
All debating aside, there was no question that we were all truly happy to be in the presence of one another. At a perfect pause in our conversation, Jon, an active duty Navy Seebee who was heading everything up, called for everyones attention. Once it was gained, he turned things over to Adriana an Account Executive at the Ventura Beach Marriot a block over from the State Park we were at. She hit us with a round we never saw coming as she told us that the Marriot was donating three rooms free of charge to us.
Awestruck, we repeatedly thanked her as we were smelling well beyond in need of a shower and we could definitely us a nights sleep in a bed. As the sun was fading out over the Pacific, a prayer was said in thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon all of us and for continued safety in everyones journey. We then enjoyed the mouth watering tri-tip, fabulous baked beans and fresh salad. Upon completing dinner, we continued meeting and conversing with members of the congregation.
As things were dying down and we were getting ready to retreat to our hotel, Jon went far beyond anything he needed to do when he presented us with a donation check collected from members of the church. For ever in their debt, we thanked them for their compassion, support and their selflessness as we departed."
Tommy Muir
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