OK, now what?
Last year I really enjoyed Lake Tahoe, especially the town of S. Lake Tahoe. It was also the scene of my infamous dog bowl accident so I wanted to go back this year and try to do some of the hikes I missed out on last year. And, of course, I wanted to visit my favorite coffee shop, the Alpina Café. 
I managed to go there everyday, though most days I drank tea. I actually go there for the free wifi and for the atmosphere. It’s mostly a local crowd and there’s usually at least one good conversation to eavesdrop on. This year an added bonus was the cute, friendly blonde working behind the counter most days I went. What more could you ask for? The coffee is good too, I’m sure.
This year I stayed the whole time on the south shore at Fallen Leaf Lake. Most mornings Abbey and I would get up and take a walk by the lake. 
Sometimes Abbey would even go in which would really wake her up. I prefer tea for my morning wakeup. This year we parked closer to the lake and it was great except for the last night. I came back to my site before going out to dinner and someone had taken it. They thought I had left since I didn’t leave anything at the site. I was pretty ticked but they weren’t around so the rangers couldn’t ask them to move so I just found another site. Next time I’ll leave a chair out just to make sure. I went out and enjoyed a nice dinner anyways at a place that the cute blonde had recommended. Funny thing was that when I showed up, she was there at the bar. Imagine that. Too bad she was with a guy friend. She was a bit young anyways.
I took a chance and took Abbey on hikes two days in a row. Both days we did between 5 and 6 miles so I was a little worried, but they were both fairly level hikes. Each one had plenty of water and even a little bit of snow on the trail, both of which helped keep Abbey going. The second day she was playing in the lake by a dock and a couple hiking came down to take a break. We started talking while Abbey was entertaining them and I found out that they grew up in Kingston, NY, where I first started working for IBM. The guy had worked for IBM, though not in Kingston. Of course, they were RVers too, though not fulltimers. Below are Round Lake, Echo Lake, and Echo and Upper Echo Lakes.
I didn’t take many pictures there this year, and none of Lake Tahoe itself, because I took a lot last year. If you didn’t see them last year, you can still check them out in the archive by clicking here. On Friday morning we headed north out of town and saw the more touristy, not-so-nice side of S. Lake Tahoe. What was really funny was that as soon as you crossed the Nevada border there were casinos waiting for you. And I mean literally as soon as you crossed the border. The sign indicating the border was on the street corner and on the other side of the sidewalk was the casino. Welcome to Nevada! I drove through Reno on my way north with the benefit of being able to stop in and stock up once again at Trader Joe’s. I can’t help myself when I go in there, but I did manage somehow to get out for less than 100 bucks this time. We passed back into California and I was hoping to get fairly close to Lake Shasta before stopping. On the way, I pulled off down a dirt road that had a glorified puddle running alongside of it that couldn’t have been more than 50x20. But that was all it took for Abbey to entertain herself for close to an hour. I figured she needed it after being in the RV so long. After looking for nearly an hour trudging down one dirt road after another I found a place to pull over and park for the night on the edge of the national forest. It wasn’t great but it was free.
Saturday we drove to Lake Shasta to meet up with 2 fulltimers who are actually younger than I am. I met Brian and Leigh back in New Mexico in March when we were all freezing our butts off. I had a nice dinner with them then, so this time it was my turn to reciprocate. They ended up showing up pretty late, but it was a good thing. When I asked about the campground Leigh had picked out at the visitor center the woman smiled and said, “Well, let’s just say your neighbors will be a little unusual.” I checked it out anyways. It was supposed to be shoreline camping, but it was more on a hillside because the lake levels were so high and the people there definitely seemed to be the “Coors Light crowd”, as Leigh called it, with the beer flowing and the music blaring. I pulled over on the side to figure out what to do next and when I started up again, I heard this “Thump, thump, thump” followed by a loud hissing noise. It turned out to be my first flat. I had run over a rock just the right size in just the right spot for it to get wedged between the two rear tires on my right side (I have dual rear wheels on each side in back.) I tried to pump it back up with my handy little compressor and it held for a while until I hit 70 psi which apparently was its breaking point. When I crawled underneath I could see a big gash in the sidewall. So I slowly drove up to a marina and when I couldn’t budge the lug nuts with the cheap wrench they give you, I called my emergency roadside service. A big, young guy named Lurch came to my rescue in only 45 minutes. Even he had trouble getting the lug nuts off so I didn’t feel so bad. Another hour later and I was back on the road, but still with no campground and no Leigh and Brian. Suffice it to say that I found a decent spot for the night for all of us and made a nice dinner of chicken with pasta and pesto. We had a great time catching up and swapping stories of flat tires and other disasters.
Sunday morning it was on to Cottage Grove, OR where I agreed at the last minute to do an RV Care-A-Vanner build with Habitat for Humanity. I’ll be there for about 2 weeks working with a group of RVers working with the local affiliate on one of their houses. I was on the waiting list and someone cancelled at the last minute. So those of you who were worried that I was getting to used to being a bum can feel better that I will at least be doing something constructive for at least 2 weeks.