Arrival

So it was a long drive from the Redwoods across the entire state of California to Lake Tahoe, but I made it. I was supposed to look at a room for rent in a house that evening but I was rolling into town a bit late. I was told that there was a fun band playing in the Crystal Bay Club that night so I thought, "hmmm, maybe if I'm not too tired or it's not too far- I'll check it out." As it turns out the Crystal Bay Club was about a ten minute walk from the hostel I was staying at.. Amazing. I got settled in and then struck out for the nightlife. As I began my walk I was struck with one very real realization....... Holy F!!!! It is legitimately cold here in Tahoe.. Sunny but cold as hell.. (I think it got down to 14 that night -which is cold for coming from the temperate land of coffee and grunge)

I found my way to the Casino- yessir.. Nevada- from the west coast of California to Nevada baby- that's how I rolled that day. The band to see was the Dead Winter Carpenters.. .. I rolled into the casino and was reminded instantly of that Vegas feeling of old ladies chain smoking cigarettes, playing slot machines and really average american food- but this was the nightlife!!! I found my way to the first bar where a band was setting up. It was a smaller room- I though -cool! It'll be an intimate show. Wait why does everyone seem to know eachother here... After some time and a couple of beverages I found out this was a bachelor party and that the band I was supposed to be seeing was playing in another room. Oops. Well nice to sorta meet you bro's. I'm out.

The Carpenters are pretty fun- kind of a blues- rock- bluegrass deal- Tahoe based band. They played a great show- people dancin-drikin-havin fun... that sort of stuff. I was both overwhelmed and really excited to be here. I was a bit phased at the bro-bra-ness of everyone.. but that is all surface stuff.. Just an initial impression.. In all my excitement I forgot that I had passed from sea level to about 6200 feet elevation. It didn't phase me at first.. I was drinkin.. but that soon caught up to me.. Yep.. I got my swerve on .... funny.. and yeah.. smoking a joint on the way home in 14 degree weather probably wasn't too good of an idea.... but I lived.. and here I am alive and telling the tale..

The next couple days were filled with both new and old impressions. Both seeing the lake and the surrounding towns with eyes anew and refreshing some old memories. I was stunned with how beautiful it all is. I was also really stoked on the funky old time neon signs around Kings Beach and how amazing the high Sierra landscape is. I had appointments to meet a couple of people to see rooms for rent and I planned to hit the town(s) hard with my resume and let them know that I was here and I mean business.

I met some nice folks and saw some cool places and some places I'd rather not go back to... I guess that's the nature of the game. I really liked the folks I met in Tahoma- they were so sweet, laid back, cool house (almost a little hobbit house) and their dogs were so sweet.. but as I soon learned Tahoma can be pretty dark -(it's deep on the west shore, in the shadow of some large peaks and very wooded)- I hear the sun goes down earliest there- they get the most snow and its pretty romote... Sorry guys- nice to meet you- but I don't think thats for me right now. I met a dude that had about 7 couches in his living room, he wasn't too far from Tahoma- he smoked me out.. He was super nice but yeah.. I'm a grown ass man.. not trying to have a party/crash pad as my homebase....

As far as my response for work along the west shore went... Well lets just say it wasn't quite luke warm. It was the beginning of December... It had snowed about 8 inches in the middle of November and that had been it. Everyone was really cautious about saying anything about maybe doing any hiring anytime soon....... - Really??? Aren't the holidays just around the corner??? Hmmmmm...

So after 2-3 days of searching the perimeter of Lake Tahoe for signs of a good fit for work or a place to live.... I thought to myself- maybe I should check out Truckee. I don't really recall having spent any time there and its close- and people say good things. Devin, who works at the hostel said really good things, words like community, and town and things like that (the west shore has some feeling of towns but it also feels pretty spread out). So I decided to set out..

I got an early-ish start to my day. I rolled through King's Beach, Tahoe Vista, Carnelian Bay, Tahoe City and out highway 89. I was also interested in plotting some times and distances to my main ski areas of interest- Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. I wanted to feel out how far all these locations were from the ski areas- 'cause Damn!! that's why I came here... that and some other stuff too..

It was good to get a drive through on 89. It's a beautiful road that follows the Truckee River from its source at Lake Tahoe, set in a little valley between the mountains that make up both Squaw and Alpine on one side and the Sawtooth ridge on the other side.

I made my way into Truckee around 11 or so. Somewhere along the way I remembered that Truckee has a fun skatepark that I skated with the boys (Jeff Reed (r.i.p.), Maurice, and Matt Hummel) on our 2000 cross country road-trip. I was stoked!!! I thought, since its early- Ill hit that up to get my day warmed up and head out from there- looking for a job and a place to stay.

I was really happy to remember how fun that Truckee skatepark is. Its got super good flow, good fast coping, hips, and some fun random stuff along the outside. While being small- its done right.. That's how parks should be built. Proper.. I was just rolling around having fun- my body was feeling really beat down from the going away parties, moving all my belongings, and being on the road- so it was a mellow session but a good one.. While I was there I was enjoying watching this other guy skate- he was just flowing around the place, having fun, nothing too fancy but I could tell he likes to skate and knows how to flow. He had a rad style and his girlfriend was shredding around too.. I ended up chatting with him- just like "how's your day going?" the most generic random question (of course asked by me) and we ended up talking for like a half hour. Both he and his girlfriend were so damn nice and chill and fun to talk to. I told them my situation and they gave me this sizable laundry list of restaurants that I should either eat at, apply to or both. We talked about all sorts of stuff... Food, snow-shredding, surfing, skating, skateparks, life- it was awesome. I don't know if I've had a better intro to two rad people.

I was really inspired-mostly by the welcome that Tim and Hannah had given me but also that this town has a fun ass skatepark and a couple of cool kids, and a good food scene. From there I set out to drop down some resumes on this town of Truckee. Hiyah!!! I rolled into town- One of the spots they recommended I check out was Jax Truckee Diner- they described it as a classic full-on diner with a modern- foodie spin on classic diner food.. I do love American Comfort Food, so I thought hell - why not. I passed it on the road and planned on parking somewhat centrally so I could just park and walk. I drove into town and parked. I jumped out and while I was paying for parking at the machine. I had my card in the machine when I heard, "Holy shit, is that Randal???" - I was not prepared. I was in total disbelief. I don't know anyone here in the town of Truckee....

Victor Lowrance walked up the street, with another man and called me out. Holy shit- Vic was right. I thought he still lived in South Lake. Vic is known as Sick Vic- and properly so. The dude rips. Here he was walking right up to me my first moments in town. He introduced me to Bud, and they were on the way to the Snow/Skate shop Totally Board. I told them I was just rolling into town and was looking for work and a place to live. Vic said to me " I might have some work for you"... I told him I was kinda looking for restaurant work- because that's what I've been doing. Turns out, Bud, the guy who was walking up with Vic was the owner of Jax Truckee Diner, and Vic's fiance was the Diner's manager. They told me to go introduce myself. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy..