We brought a couple of smaller tarps and decided we'd stop somewhere in South Lake Tahoe and buy a big tarp and just build a family shelter. We found a Big 5 Sporting Goods store, so Mike ran in to get a tarp. He took a peek at the tents while he was in there and found a 12 x 12 eight-man tent on a Black Friday sale for $39. He couldn't figure out why the bigger tent was an even better deal than the smaller tents, but decided it was a deal that couldn't be passed up.
As it turned out, the tent rang up at $150 on sale, but since the tag clearly said $39, they gave it to him without an argument! You should have seen his smile when he bounded out to the car and said "This is the best Black Friday ever!"
By the time we found a spot to camp it was pretty dark and felt pretty late, though I'm sure it wasn't. We set up the tent while the kids gathered firewood. It was super windy, so we dug a firepit and kept the fire small (though the flames blew big with the wind). It was certainly getting chilly! We enjoyed Thanksgiving leftovers, hot chocolate and s'mores before retreating to the tent to get out of the wind.
The wind howled all night and it sounded like it was raining on us. However, in the morning, we found this:
The kids could hardly wait to get out and play in the snow in the morning. Looking at the weather report, we were pretty sure that there would be snow, so we were somewhat prepared. Someone lost a glove in the dark at night, but in the morning it was covered with snow, so someone had to use a sock.
The kids were wet and cold after playing in the snow, so we let them warm up in the van while the parents took down the tent and packed our gear out to the van. We found that it's hard to leave-no-trace when you get snowed on!
By then, the snow let up and the kids were warmed up, so we decided to hike around and explore the area where we camped.
We were camped near, what we think bust be Grass Lake. The meadow is surrounded by mountains whose snow melts and makes a marshy lake in this area. In the winter, it's just a tall, grassy area with various streams running through it.
It started snowing again just as we got back to the van. Mike's fears were realized as we tried to back out of the place we had pulled off the road. We were stuck. He said when it started snowing in the night, he woke up with a feeling that he should go put the van on flatter ground, but he didn't want to get out of his sleeping bag.
I was ready to call a tow truck after about 15 minutes of trying to get the van out. Thankfully Mike is confident, easy-going, and resourceful. I got in the driver's seat and he put pine branches and pieces of cardboard under the tires and pushed the van while I tried to back-up. We did this umpteen times, making 6-12 inches of progress on the good attempts. After each good attempt he'd move the branches and cardboard and we'd give it another go.
The dark blur out there is my knight-in-shining-armor.
The slow, but sure progress kept me from calling a tow truck. The snow was picking up, though and I couldn't help but think of the possibility of getting stranded and wondered how long the gas in the tank would last to keep us warm (I'm kind of dramatic in my head sometimes).
He even smiles for photos.
After an hour or more (I wasn't looking at the time), a salt truck pulled over and the driver came over and asked if Mike could use a hand. Mike said, "That would probably make it go faster." I thought the guy was going to help Mike push, but apparently salt trucks are equipped with towing stuff (makes sense). He hooked onto our rear and pulled us out to the road. He said he had seen the van there during the wee morning hours and was pretty sure we'd be stuck in the morning.
In the night they had made the area we were in restricted to vehicles with 4-wheel drive or chained tires. We had neither, so we drove carefully and slowly back into town to buy some chains to get over the pass to get home.
We ended up getting chains (and a few other things) for a great price thanks for the after Thanksgiving sales. By the time we got back on the road, though, the snow had let up and the chain restriction was lifted. And we saw this beautiful rainbow!
Before we left for home, we found a spot to pull over and hunt down a Christmas tree. This was a first for our family! In fact, we kept it a secret from the kids until that morning.
After some significant hiking, we found a tree that everyone agreed on! Everyone took a turn with the saw. We hauled it to our to the car, strapped it on and headed for home! Our camping trip and Christmas tree hunt was a success!
2 comments:
What an adventure!
Thanks ffor this
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