Hume '08

I just returned from four days in the glorious, mountain fresh air of Hume Lake, California, with my best friend, Joy. We have been going to Hume Lake since we were kids; her parents have a gorgeous cabin nestled in the Redwood and pine trees above the lake. I worked at the camp the summer after graduating from high school, but after that, had not been back.

Three years ago we started the "adult tradition" of going for a weekend every summer, and it has been the most refreshing, relaxing and wonderful time together. Past summers have included swimming in the lake, lounging at the Sandy cove, observing a kid almost drown (Jeremy!), quad rides at dusk, 3-mile runs around the lake (hello, elevation!) and encounters with wildlife. (Our favorite so far had been Chad, the chipmunk, who would demand peanuts daily and even eat them from your hand).
Joy's cabin is not your typical, woodsy or rustic shelter. It is a three-story haven, with seemingly endless bedrooms (beds piled with soft bedding!). It is a five-star resort hotel that holds so many wonderful memories!
Of course, lodging in the cabin comes with responsibility. It started Thursday night when we arrived. We knew that Joy's dad had put out a mouse trap, and, sure enough, the first task (for Joy) was to clean up the carcass. Mmmm. We were relieved that the mouse encounter was over -- no one likes to hear the sound of the trap setting off -- so we knew it was going to be a cruelty-free weekend. :)
Day Two started with deer. Right there. In our face. One of the deer had been around the previous year, and was affectionately named "Dori" by the neighboring cabin owners. Dori had been busy because she had two kids with her - we named them Doris and Donald. Such wonderful names, no? Honestly, Joy and I could not stop with the infatution of tame, wild deer...I'm sure somewhere some animal activist will throw a fit that we fed the wildlife, but it's amazing to see an animal start to gain trust with you. Dori and Doris would hang out by our cabin ALL DAY...grazing at our apples and peanut butter pretzels and stopping for an occasional nap. Dori's favorite place to lounge was right underneath the hammock.
Day Three we encountered a racoon and a baby mouse. Realizing that the corpse in the mouse trap was probably baby mouse's mom, we felt bad. Amazingly we were able to catch it and put it outside, where we adorned it with all the cheese and birdseed it could eat. Ridiculous. And, yes, I even made a bed for it out of paper towels. It's now most likely in an owl's digestive tract, but I felt like I did something good for nature. Or maybe just completely interfered...?
The drive home was bittersweet, and then got adventurous right as we finished climbing the biggest grade on the grapevine. Joy's car overheated! We pulled off at Quail Lake Road, in the middle of nowhere. Cars would drive past and honk at us (I love it that people will honk at you, acknowledging that you're stranded off some remote road with your radiator steaming and your hood propped up, but won't stop to help you). Nevertheless, Joy and I were not going to let this minor problem get us down. We propped up the hood and saw that the radiator hose had been disconnected from the overfill. I re-attached it and checked the oil. These are probably the only things I would ever know how to do in a car crisis...check the oil and add water to the radiator overfill. Awesome.
Anyway, Joy disappeared while I was checking the (bone dry) oil and returned with a 3 Liter bottle of water.
"Where on earth did you get that?!" I was howling.
"Some fat guy gave it to me." She pointed to a car parked across the road, and, sure enough, fat guy had come through. If we hadn't had that big jug of water we never would have made the five mile drive back to the Gorman gas station.
The car started to overheat again, just as we pulled into the Chevron station. Quickly we started our maneuvers again - popping the hood, checking the oil, etc. Joy went into the gas station store to buy oil, antifreeze and some Mentos.
A few moments later, an old biker guy with long, flowing hair and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth appeared.
"Ya overheat?" he asked. He smelled of patchouli and cigarettes.
"Yeah," I said, fiddling with the oil stick.
Patchouli Biker Guy was eager to help, and ended up giving Joy and I a "Mechanics 101" lesson. He let us do the work while he counseled, all the while sucking on his cigarette and summoning others to come over and check our work. Two gangstas (with cross necklaces) showed up with some pliers and were able to re-attach our hoses properly, all with a smile and "God bless!" We ended up adding almost two quarts of oil to the engine (wow!) a dash of antifreeze, about 6 Liters of water into the radiator and we were good to go.
"God bless you," Patchouli Biker Guy said, as he vigorously shook our hands when we closed the hood for the final time.
Gorman ain't so bad, after all.

So, thus ends a brief narrative of my weekend. I honestly don't think I could have shared those experiences with anyone else. Joy is everything that her name embodies, and I am so very grateful for our 20+ years of friendship. And, as always, I'm looking forward to Hume 2009!