Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Chapter 11 begins with Cheryl hitchhiking outside Chester, California after parting with Stacy and Trina. Jimmy Carter, a reporter for the Hobo Times, pulls up and asks for an interview. Cheryl corrects him when he refers to her as a hobo, telling him she is a long-distance hiker. Jimmy is too excited at meeting a female hobo to listen to her explanation of the PCT. After the interview, Jimmy takes Cheryl’s picture and offers her a hobo care package, which includes a beer and groceries. Cheryl sits in the dirt and drinks her beer while she explores the contents of the grocery bag. It contains a cigarette, six butterscotch candies, a vacuum-sealed sausage, a can of baked beans, and toiletries. Cheryl devours the sausage and candies. She then opens the can of beans and eats them with her Swiss army knife like a hobo. After her meal, a woman named Lou and two brothers, Dave and Spider, pick up Cheryl in an old Maverick. Spider tells a story about an ape in a French laboratory who drew his own cage. He hits on Cheryl, leaving her aroused and flattered. Cheryl notices a picture of a young boy hanging from the rearview mirror and is saddened to learn it is Lou’s son, who died five years ago.