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Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite locations for an event and hopefully can return here sometime in the near future. Line a mini-vacation. However, after what we went through this weekend......we are not up to doing any events here until next year.
We decided that we weren't going to do the Oakhurst Peddlers Fair or the Mushroom Mardis Gras in Morgan Hill. There are quite a few decent events all over the place...as this is usually a great weekend for shows. I had talked to a lot of my friends and they suggested the show at Miller's Y, so I contacted the promoters and was accepted into the event for Memorial Day Weekend. Little did I know what Mother Nature had in store for us, but I wasn't surprised as we had been having all kinds of problems, including weather, in our event. I had been checking the weather reports and constantly checked the 10-day forecasts about a week and a half before, I couldn't help but notice that the 70-degree temperatures they had been having were changed to reports of 50 degree temperatures and going lower The reports went from sunny to partly cloudy to cloudy and then some rain You know what that means at the higher elevations. Mountain weather...never know what is going to happen.
The show ran from Friday-Monday and we left Hayward early AM on that Thursday.and the drive up 80 and 50 was almost uneventful. As we approached Cameron Park, I was driving behind a big truck.in the far right-hand lane. We were climbing, so I decided to go around him. No cars behind me, so I changed lanes and began to pass him. At that moment, I saw a large sheet of plywood (maybe 4x8) come bouncing across the highway, striking the front part of the van and then disappearing behind us someplace. I guess we were very lucky that it didn't bounce a few feet higher and come smashing through the windshield.
We then took the Cameron Park exit and drove over to a parking lot there and checked for damage. I didn't see anything. However, was this the point where we actually entered the Twilight Zone and we would then have a lot of strange things happening.
We then continued on our way and drove past Placerville and it was beginning to cloud up. Gosh, I hoped that we wouldn't get stuck in snow at the summit. Once when we did a show in Commons beach over Labor Day weekend several years ago, we hit some heavy, wind-driven snow as we climbed over the summit.
There were just a few sprinkles as we drove over the summit and began to go down in elevation, heading into Lake Tahoe. After we reached ground level, it began to snow. A bit surprised, I must say.
We headed down Highway 50 and as we approached the intersection of Highways 89 and 50, it began to snow quite hard and we wondered what we were going to do. We drove over to the parking lot at the 'Y' where the event was to be held and saw that the snow was accumulating on the ground. However, it was snowing less than before and we decided that we would just park over there and wait, since it was only around 1:00PM. Just as we pulled into the parking lot, the snow stopped, but there were some mighty ugly clouds off to the left and there were threats of very bad weather continuing into the weekend.
was a bit windy now and we had decided that we would set up the canopy and drop everything off before heading to good ol' inexpensive Motel 6 down the road a couple miles away.
I parked the car and went looking for Robert and Wanda, the promoters of this event and many others up here in Lake Tahoe. They showed me where my space was to be located and I pulled the van over next to it. It was cold. It was windy and we had some occationsl wind-blown snow coming at us. Occasionally, it turned to rain, but didn't come down very hard. I pictured many scenarios in my mind of what this place was going to look like tomorrow (Friday) morning when we came back to finish setting up.
We pulled out some of our bags and was then able to remove our canopy from the van. I had just met a number of other vendors there, who advised me to bolt or screw down the bottom of the canopy to the ground because of high winds. I knew then that this just might be a very interesting weekend. I had looked forward for several years to doing an event here and expected to do well over the 4-day holiday weekend.
We put up the canopy and I used a neighbors power drill to place small screws, which he had just given me, through the holes on all four legs into the blacktop. It was getting cold. Periodically, we retreated to the van to warm up. We were getting indications that this was to be a rough weekend.
Still windy and rain coming down lightly, we put up the grids on the sides of the canopy and then tossed things inside. Assuming that it was going to rain, we elevated everything that we placed inside, as we did not want to have a disaster! Clouds were coming in and it was really becoming ugly. We quickly put up the side covers and secured them tightly and hopped into the van and left, heading over to the Motel. We checked in and stayed in the motel for awhile before heading out to get something to eat. I had hoped to hit a buffet, but we really wanted to keep our expenses down, so we just picked up some chicken and drove over by the casinos and returned to the motel.
t took quite a while to 'thaw out' in the room. Turned up the heat and we ate our food and then got underneath the blankets to get warm. Not a very eventful evening, but both of us were quite tired and were feeling a bit under the weather.
Later on, I was sitting on the edge of the bed checking my email, etc., on my computer through the wireless hookup we had in the room. When I was finished, I signed off and as I began to put my computer away, I noticed that my eyeglasses, which I had placed beside me on the bed, weren't there anymore. I looked around and saw them on the floor. I picked them up and they had been crushed. The left eyepiece had popped out and the frames were bent. Oh gosh...here we are 200 miles from home, what do I do? Fortunately, I was able to pop it back into place, but I realized that I had better be careful and use the glasses only for traveling.
Had difficulties sleeping that night as we listened to the rain splashing to the ground and hearing the passing cars sloshing through the water. I wondered what it was going to look like in the morning. We did manage to get some sleep...not very good though and finally awoke around 5:30. I layed in bed for a little while and I was scared to look outside. Lucy walked over and peeked through the curtains and said that there was snow on the ground. Oh gosh....was this my worst nightmare. Were we going to have to trample through 2 feet of snow. Woe this was May and they had snow already. Later on I would be told by many people that you have a chance of snow any day of the year. That's just great. We had been doing shows over the Memorial Holiday in Oakhurst, etc., and we were used to temps approaching 100 degrees. Not this time, for sure.
I walked over to the window and saw that there was (only) about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground and our van was covered with it, of course. We got dressed and then drove over to the event.
The parking lot was a bit wet, but thankfully there
was no snow. We pulled apart the covers and stepped inside the
canopy and began putting up our merchandise. IT WAS COLD. It
was around 7:00 now and there was no sign of the sun coming out. A
bit breezy and cold. I felt sickly and didn't have too much energy
and the same went for Lucy. She had surgery on her eye the week
before and it was now beginning to puff up and she began experiencing some
discomfort and pain. I wondered what the rest of the weekend was going to
be like. We finally pulled away some of our covers and opened for
business around 10:00. Not very many people walking around.
Still very cloudy with an occasional sprinkle and thoughts of snow which
could arrive at any given minute.
We sat on our chairs in the canopy with blankets over us as customers walked around the event. We had some sales, but this was Friday and we expected things to be slow. Around 1:30, I noticed that a few vendors had closed up. I could see clouds rolling in and it began to sprinkle. We began closing up and left about 30 minutes later as the show was turning into a ghost town. Just as we got into the van it began to rain quite hard..
We ate dinner at Carrow's and then retreated back to the motel. We parked the van and stepped over to the room. Pulled out my 'key card' and attempted to open the door. Oh gosh. Wouldn't open and the rain was coming down quite hard.
So, Lucy stayed outside the room while I walked over to the office, getting wet along the way. I asked them if they changed the code, like a lot of Motel 6's have done in the past. The said no...and told me that I must have put the card near my keys or credit cards. Usual response by these people. I had my card inside my top coat pocket away from everything. So, they reprogrammed it and I returned to the room and opened the door. This must have been around the 7th or 8th time I had to get my card re-programmed. Some of these motels wipe out everything at noon time and I am sure that happened. We went inside the room, turned on teh TV and fired up the heater full blast and ducked underneath the covers. I was shivering for around 10-15 minutes.
Had trouble once again sleeping that evening and it rained off and on throughout the night. I was quite worried that rain would accumulate on top of our canopy and cause it to collapse. Older canopies tend to sag when there is water collecting on them.
When we woke up Saturday morning, it wasn't raining, but temps were down in the 30's. Quite cold for a Memorial Day Weekend. We went to our booth and uncovered the sides and opened for business., spending much of the day on the chairs, cuddled up in the blankets, despite wearing two pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a sweater and a heavy coat.
Lucy's eye was getting worse throughout the day and she continued to be rather sick, vomiting every so opften. The sun broke through opccasionally and we had spurts of people walking around. Not much business though. Don't know for sure whether the sparse crowds were due to the weather or just not many tourists around....perhaps a combination of several reasons, nonetheless.
It rained later on during the afternoon, but we continued to stay open. What else could we do? We had customers come in and tell us that they had visited the craft show (Williams, Ltd) at the Horizon Casino on the other side of town 3 miles away and tell us that the vendors there had closed up because it was snowing quite heavily. Wow. They really did have some wild weather up here. We still had a couple more days to go on the show and I was worried that it might be snowing quite hard when we would be going over the Summit on Monday.
Many times during the weekend, we had sprinkles and rain showers and we had to keep covering up the front, so things wouldn't get wet.
Sales continued to be slow throughout the remainder of the day. We closed up around 5:00 with everybody else and headed over to the motel. Parked the van and walked over to the room as we both were shivering in the cold. Now, can you guess what happened? Once again, the key card would not work. I had placed it in my coat pocket and had to get it re-programmed. Matter of fact, there were a number of other people attempting to get into their rooms also and their cards were not working. Starting to get sick and tired of this crap at Motel 6.
You know, I'm sure that they normally have some pretty decent weather up here for their events and I know that Staniford puts on some really great money-making events at the 'Y', the Middle School and the American Leagion. But for some reason, we were getting the FICKLED FINGER OF FATE waved at us this weekend. Just one of those things. We have had some pretty weird weather for the past month at each of our shows....105 degrees, 40 degrees and now, temps in the 30's.
So, once again, we turned up the heater full blast and got underneath the covers to warm up. Lucy was quite sick, her eye was hurting and still getting worse and we were becoming quite worried as to what we should do. We ate very simple that night, as I drove uver to McDonalds and picked up some burgers.
Once again, no solid sleep for either of us, but at least we stayed warm. It rained once again at night and by he time the morning came around, things had pretty much dried up. We went to the booth, opened up, etc. This was Sunday and we expected a late crowd. Some sales, but not much. Windy, cold and ugly. Lucy was feeling much worse that day and I was becoming quite worried and wondeed if I should take her to a doctor. Decided that she should stay in the motel the rest of the day and keep warm...so I closed up temporarily and drove her back to Motel 6 and returned to the booth, where I stayed until close to 5:00. I had the front two sides open and at least the wind wasn't blowing into the booth Thank gosh. However, it was just plain downright cold. As the afternoon progressed, I kept watching our 'incoming weather' off to the left as the clouds continued to accumulate and turn darker. Around 4:30, I figured that HEAVY RAINS WERE IMMINENT and began to quickly close up and secure the canopy. I got to the van a little later and it began to pour, once again. Out of there in the nick of time.
In all the years we have been doing shows, this is the second worst weather we have ever encountered, especially over a 3-4 day period. The Worst? Several years ago we had torrential rains at the Chandler Ostrich Festival and the area was flooded.
So, I brought back some food to the motel and we both ate and I tried to warm up my shivering body. Lucy was still very sick and I began contemplating packing up early Monday morning (the last day of the show) and head home and try to get her to a doctor.
On Sunday morning, we decided that it would be best to pack up and head home and just eat our losses. That wasn't important. I had to get Lucy out of there, as I can imagine that she was quite uncomfortable with all these medical problems and there was no way I was going to keep her in the car much of the day. Check out time at the motel was 11:00AM, so there was no way I could leave her at the motel. Fortunately, the weather was mild and actually, it looked like it was going to be a promising day where we could probably get some sales. However, we drove over to our booth and I parked alongside and covered Lucy up with blankets while I began dismantling our setup. I looked for Wanda, the promoter of the show, as I wanted to make her aware of the situation, but she wasn't to show up until an hour later.
It wasn't easy packing everything myself and loading every bucket, sack, grid, etc., into the van. I tried to work as fast as I could, but this took time to do. I wanted to get Lucy, who was feeling really miserable, out of there as soon as possible and I didn't want to get stuck up in the mountains in the snow, as the weather was still weird. Also, other vendors would be opening up soon and I did not want to block customers and their booths.
There was another vendor near us who was sick also who left and several other people were feeling 'under the weather' after going through this cold, damp weekend. I finally was able to talk to Wanda and explained the situation to her. We left around 10:00AM and had to pull over a couple times when Lucy got sick.
We made a couple 'comfort stops' along the winding highway as we headed down Highway 50 toward Sacramento. Arrived home mid-afternoon and called her doctor and she was seen that afternoon despite it being a holiday. Nothing seriously wrong with her eye other than imflamation and she was given eye drops. She also had some kind of virus which attributed to her vomiting, queeziness, etc. We returned home and she headed upstairs to bed. I turned on the TV and conked out on the sofa.
We sat on our chairs in the canopy with blankets over us as customers walked around the event. We had some sales, but this was Friday and we expected things to be slow. Around 1:30, I noticed that a few vendors had closed up. I could see clouds rolling in and it began to sprinkle. We began closing up and left about 30 minutes later as the show was turning into a ghost town. Just as we got into the van it began to rain quite hard..
We ate dinner at Carrow's and then retreated back to the motel. We parked the van and stepped over to the room. Pulled out my 'key card' and attempted to open the door. Oh gosh. Wouldn't open and the rain was coming down quite hard.
So, Lucy stayed outside the room while I walked over to the office, getting wet along the way. I asked them if they changed the code, like a lot of Motel 6's have done in the past. The said no...and told me that I must have put the card near my keys or credit cards. Usual response by these people. I had my card inside my top coat pocket away from everything. So, they reprogrammed it and I returned to the room and opened the door. This must have been around the 7th or 8th time I had to get my card re-programmed. Some of these motels wipe out everything at noon time and I am sure that happened. We went inside the room, turned on teh TV and fired up the heater full blast and ducked underneath the covers. I was shivering for around 10-15 minutes.
Had trouble once again sleeping that evening and it rained off and on throughout the night. I was quite worried that rain would accumulate on top of our canopy and cause it to collapse. Older canopies tend to sag when there is water collecting on them.
When we woke up Saturday morning, it wasn't raining, but temps were down in the 30's. Quite cold for a Memorial Day Weekend. We went to our booth and uncovered the sides and opened for business., spending much of the day on the chairs, cuddled up in the blankets, despite wearing two pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a sweater and a heavy coat.
Lucy's eye was getting worse throughout the day and she continued to be rather sick, vomiting every so opften. The sun broke through opccasionally and we had spurts of people walking around. Not much business though. Don't know for sure whether the sparse crowds were due to the weather or just not many tourists around....perhaps a combination of several reasons, nonetheless.
It rained later on during the afternoon, but we continued to stay open. What else could we do? We had customers come in and tell us that they had visited the craft show (Williams, Ltd) at the Horizon Casino on the other side of town 3 miles away and tell us that the vendors there had closed up because it was snowing quite heavily. Wow. They really did have some wild weather up here. We still had a couple more days to go on the show and I was worried that it might be snowing quite hard when we would be going over the Summit on Monday.
Many times during the weekend, we had sprinkles and rain showers and we had to keep covering up the front, so things wouldn't get wet.
Sales continued to be slow throughout the remainder of the day. We closed up around 5:00 with everybody else and headed over to the motel. Parked the van and walked over to the room as we both were shivering in the cold. Now, can you guess what happened? Once again, the key card would not work. I had placed it in my coat pocket and had to get it re-programmed. Matter of fact, there were a number of other people attempting to get into their rooms also and their cards were not working. Starting to get sick and tired of this crap at Motel 6.
You know, I'm sure that they normally have some pretty decent weather up here for their events and I know that Staniford puts on some really great money-making events at the 'Y', the Middle School and the American Leagion. But for some reason, we were getting the FICKLED FINGER OF FATE waved at us this weekend. Just one of those things. We have had some pretty weird weather for the past month at each of our shows....105 degrees, 40 degrees and now, temps in the 30's.
So, once again, we turned up the heater full blast and got underneath the covers to warm up. Lucy was quite sick, her eye was hurting and still getting worse and we were becoming quite worried as to what we should do. We ate very simple that night, as I drove uver to McDonalds and picked up some burgers.
Once again, no solid sleep for either of us, but at least we stayed warm. It rained once again at night and by he time the morning came around, things had pretty much dried up. We went to the booth, opened up, etc. This was Sunday and we expected a late crowd. Some sales, but not much. Windy, cold and ugly. Lucy was feeling much worse that day and I was becoming quite worried and wondeed if I should take her to a doctor. Decided that she should stay in the motel the rest of the day and keep warm...so I closed up temporarily and drove her back to Motel 6 and returned to the booth, where I stayed until close to 5:00. I had the front two sides open and at least the wind wasn't blowing into the booth Thank gosh. However, it was just plain downright cold. As the afternoon progressed, I kept watching our 'incoming weather' off to the left as the clouds continued to accumulate and turn darker. Around 4:30, I figured that HEAVY RAINS WERE IMMINENT and began to quickly close up and secure the canopy. I got to the van a little later and it began to pour, once again. Out of there in the nick of time.
In all the years we have been doing shows, this is the second worst weather we have ever encountered, especially over a 3-4 day period. The Worst? Several years ago we had torrential rains at the Chandler Ostrich Festival and the area was flooded.
So, I brought back some food to the motel and we both ate and I tried to warm up my shivering body. Lucy was still very sick and I began contemplating packing up early Monday morning (the last day of the show) and head home and try to get her to a doctor.
On Sunday morning, we decided that it would be best to pack up and head home and just eat our losses. That wasn't important. I had to get Lucy out of there, as I can imagine that she was quite uncomfortable with all these medical problems and there was no way I was going to keep her in the car much of the day. Check out time at the motel was 11:00AM, so there was no way I could leave her at the motel. Fortunately, the weather was mild and actually, it looked like it was going to be a promising day where we could probably get some sales. However, we drove over to our booth and I parked alongside and covered Lucy up with blankets while I began dismantling our setup. I looked for Wanda, the promoter of the show, as I wanted to make her aware of the situation, but she wasn't to show up until an hour later.
It wasn't easy packing everything myself and loading every bucket, sack, grid, etc., into the van. I tried to work as fast as I could, but this took time to do. I wanted to get Lucy, who was feeling really miserable, out of there as soon as possible and I didn't want to get stuck up in the mountains in the snow, as the weather was still weird. Also, other vendors would be opening up soon and I did not want to block customers and their booths.
There was another vendor near us who was sick also who left and several other people were feeling 'under the weather' after going through this cold, damp weekend. I finally was able to talk to Wanda and explained the situation to her. We left around 10:00AM and had to pull over a couple times when Lucy got sick.
We made a couple 'comfort stops' along the winding highway as we headed down Highway 50 toward Sacramento. Arrived home mid-afternoon and called her doctor and she was seen that afternoon despite it being a holiday. Nothing seriously wrong with her eye other than imflamation and she was given eye drops. She also had some kind of virus which attributed to her vomiting, queeziness, etc. We returned home and she headed upstairs to bed. I turned on the TV and conked out on the sofa.