Back on the grid…
For the past week, we’ve been away camping at Eagle Lake in Lassen County near Susanville as Diego’s plans for Japan, and camping plans to Santa Cruz fell through due to COVID-19. Well, we just had to get out. Camping is something we enjoy and try to do once a year. And with the kids getting older, these times we’re together in the great outdoors may be fleeting.
Needless to say, the first couple of nights were rather chilly and windy, and I had to wonder if I had made a huge mistake since we’re supposed to be here for a week. Well, things did turn around as the temperatures jumped into the low 80’s and lows in the mid 50’s. Being that far up in the north east section of California means no cell service which is a bit annoying if you need to look something up, but being out with the pines, birds, and the lake also means not needing to look something up.
Looking up here meant checking out the stars late at night, marveling at the vastness of the cosmos, and feeling delightfully small. Or looking up in the day to witness the two bald eagles sailing over the lake or perching high in a pine just 500 yards down from our campsite.
An odd discovery was the run down and dilapidated Ronald McDonald Camp, which fascinated Diego. He took many pictures of the place wondering what he’d find. There was a couple of people working on the site, but Diego managed to find a building with the door open. It seems he stumbled onto an office with an old computer, dated furniture, and other stored items. The people must have gotten wind that he was able to get into the building because they were at the building the next day. Wandering around there, I was half expecting Fred to pop out and announce “We’ve got another mystery, gang!”
One other aspect that came up is the realization that our equipment was getting old. Zippers broke, poles bent, fabric tore (and even burned), and it made us realize a couple of things—one, we had to do some serious outdoor equipment shopping and two, that we’ve done a lot of camping in our “second home”—our family tent for twelve years.
From Patrick’s Point in Humboldt County to Morro Bay in So Cal, Lake Tahoe, Eagle Lake, and all throughout the Sierras—we’ve done 20 camping trips in 12 years. When we realized we were going to have to let it go, we sat around the campfire and reminisced on all the trips and memories we had with our Coleman Weathermaster 6. For a second home, we definitely got our $260 worth.
