The Matthews are dear family friends of my Uncle Dave, and the 1979 trip was especially vivid in my mind for both good and bad reasons, much like our 2012 trip turned out to be. The good back then was the "discovery" of an old cabin site in the meadow, and finding treasures that some gold digger (the property is in Nevada County, about an hour from Truckee down smaller and smaller roads) had left behind over a hundred years ago. That, and designing elaborate performances with my cousins Andrew and Becky to "entertain" the adults around the camp fire. The bad part was when my dog, Dottie, bit Becky's face, resulting in a trip to the hospital over a very long and bumpy road (I appreciated this SO much more on my own journey this time around).
This Spring, when my father forwarded on the e-mail announcing the trip, I decided it was finally time to make another visit to Matthew Meadow. I have my own kids, we are trying to go camping as much as possible this summer (or at least once a month), and we are only 2 hours away in Nevada City. Why not go?
Why not, indeed. My first inkling of trouble was when things started heating up at work for Martin. First, it was just that he had to go to Australia for ten days. Then he would be in San Francisco for a week, just before the trip. And then, it looked like he would have to work through the weekend of the Matthew Meadow camping trip. After months of looking forward to this trip, I was determined to go, husband or not. I am an experienced camper. I know how to put up a tent, light a fire, cook on a backpacking stove. There would be other people there in case I ran into trouble. How hard could it be, camping with a 4-year old and an almost 9-month old? As it turns out, Quite Hard.
We planned to leave at 1pm, to coincide with Karolina's nap. Even with Jana distracting both kids all morning, it took me until 2:45pm to get everything prepped, packed, and in the car. My backpacking stove was MIA, but we inherited a cook stove from Uncle Bill that Martin had fired up at our last camping trip and I was certain it would be easy to use. After a last, desperate phone call to Martin to find out when or if he would be joining us (undetermined at that time), we were off.
It was a jolly journey, singing along to the Beatles, all the way until we hit the construction road block a few miles before Truckee. And when I mean road block, I mean Stopped. People out of their cars, sunbathing. For an hour and a half.
We passed the time reading books, changing Karolina's diaper, and talking about what might be causing the traffic stop. Finally, at 4:45, we were moving again. We found the first turn-off easily, and the second. Then things started getting confusing. The mileage in the directions didn't match the third turn-off, but there was a lake where there was supposed to be a lake, and we forged ahead as the road got more and more gravelly. Then none of the signs were right and I pulled over at a camp store that was thankfully still open. The camp hosts re-directed me seven miles back the other way (on a gravel road) and warned me about the condition of the road I was to turn off on. Great.
At this point, the sun was definitely moving in a downward direction, and I started to get nervous about traveling down a rough, 4-wheel drive road in the dark in my little Subaru. I sped over that gravel road and finally found the correct turn-off, complete with welcoming "MM" paper plate sign. The paper plates made it easy to find the correct route, until we got to the last one, which was marked with a "WW" instead of a "MM". The road got REALLY rough after that one, and I turned around thinking surely the sign had been flipped upside down and we had gone the wrong direction. Nope, upon second glance there was no other option, and so we made a second sketchy Y turn and crept down a road that looked to me more like a stream bed than anything that was meant for cars.
Maybe 100 yards after the first place we turned around, we saw TRUCKS parked and joy and relief rushed through my body. I felt even better when we got welcoming waves from warm-hearted near-strangers that I had not seen in over thirty years. These same folks helped me get the tent up lickety split, held the baby, and even fed us dinner after I realized that we needed to eat PRONTO or there was going to be more than one meltdown.
They warned us that it had been cold the previous night, but I was unprepared for how bone-chilling the weather turned out to be. I stuffed Karolina in a onesie, a fleece sleeper, a fleece sleep sack, my down jacket, and a fleece blanket wrapped around all of that. In the middle of the night, I added a hat. She was fine. *I* froze. To the point where I was seriously debating packing up and driving off at 2:00am. But Peter and Karolina were sleeping peacefully, and we somehow made it through that night.
After sleeping even less than I normally do, when the sun rose, I wanted COFFEE. I opened the new stove and was utterly confounded by how to turn it on. No clue. Real tears came to my eyes. Again, our tent neighbors Rod and Lois took pity on us and gave me hot water for my French Press. Angels. Things improved after that. Peter ate five or six breakfasts (taking whatever was offered to him) and Karolina ate an entire pancake. We enjoyed a gorgeous hike on part of the Pacific Crest Trail, and Peter made a new friend (tent neighbor Rod). Martin even showed up that afternoon, and cooked us a fantastic dinner. We re-arranged the blankets in the tent and I was much warmer the second night and Karolina SLEPT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. Woo hoo!
Here are some photos from our weekend:
Peter poking around in a pond on our hike.
Peter dismantling a stump. He was *extremely* busy the entire time we were in camp, building ant bridges, tending the fire, roasting marshmallows for his new friends, and more.
Karolina enjoying the tent.
On our hike.
On our hike with the Matthew clan: Ron and Kathy behind us.
Peter on Rod's ATV. Every night at bed time, when we talk about what we are grateful for, Peter mentions Rod and the ATV.
Karolina eating pancakes.
We are so glad you came. I especially had a good time with Peter, giving him a ride on the 4-Wheeler, he followed every instruction I gave him, especially not getting off the 4-wheeler at the cliffs where I took his picture. He had no problem with that! It was fun visiting with Erika and having someone to use our 'extras'. Warmingly,
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