Summer, in a nutshell

I posted my keirin track bike for sell on Craigs List....

...and an old Schwinn that I converted into a single speed.

We had a yard sale and gave some stuff away

We visited Mt. Lassen....

...a creepy cave....

...Dunsmuir, where we slept in a train car and walked under a waterfall...

the yellow car was our home for the night 

...Mt. Shasta...

we decided to go on a hike once we drove up the mountain and i was fascinated by this plant we saw along the way

I was so glad to see there was a sign to teach me what this was

...and Mt. Shasta City where we drank from this natural spring...

...and frolicked through this enchanted forest...

(unfortunately i didn't have my camera on the correct setting. these pictures don't do it justice)

...and roamed the streets where we saw this sign...

...and the home of our most recent dreams. Thus, the craigslist ads, yard sales and giving things away. More on all that in a future post.

The simplicity of camping

Brian and I went camping at our ol' stand by last weekend, Buck's Lake. It's about 20 miles from the town where Brian grew up and it's the place we go when we want to go camping but haven't made plans to go elsewhere. We brought our bikes and went for a ride on Saturday, a long, hilly, strenuous ride that was mostly on a 4-wheel drive road. A ride that rewarded us with the most amazing views and surprised us with a variety of sweet aromatic flora. Camping and bike touring always remind me of how little I really need to live and motivate me to continue lightening the load of all the useless stuff in this house.

Brian lived in this structure 22 years ago when he worked at Lakeshore Resort. No running water, bathroom or kitchen. (the porta potty wasn't there back then) Now it's used for boat rentals.

Changing our World by Sleeping Outdoors

We've been sleeping in the back yard under our grape arbor.

We planned on sleeping out just one night, possibly two, and then going back to sleeping indoors on work nights, which are during the week for us. We were worried we wouldn't get a good nights sleep, BUT, after being out there for two weeks and enjoying it so much, we are no longer worried about that.

I still find it amazing how the tiniest of efforts and just little changes can have a huge impact.

When we started this blog we were making some changes that were bringing us back to a similar way of life we lived as children and as young adults with less money. Back to a time when we rode our bikes, worked in the garden, lived without central heating and air conditioning, played outdoors, were creative, and made due with what we had. We were beginning to come full circle.

Sleeping outside is another one of those changes for us. Summers here in Sacramento are HOT and since I work in an air conditioned office all day, adjusting to the heat is difficult for me. Towards the end of winter we decided to see how long we could go without using the heater, just how cold it would have to get before we caved. That was the last time we used the heater.

Now that it's hot we want to see how long we can go without the air conditioner and it's not as easy. (Heat = grumpy!) This has brought us outdoors where, once the sun goes down, it is cool. For now anyhow. It is only June.

I want to enjoy being outside no matter what the temperature, just like when I was younger. And I know the more I'm out there the easier that will be.