New Life in the Woods

Unpacking

Finally, we got up and started unloading. The firewood first, which got stacked on the front porch, making a pile about 6 feet long and 4 feet high. Then we unloaded the boxes and shelf pieces, the furniture pieces, more boxes, and finally a few tables and the fridge. We tested the plug where the fridge would go in the kitchen (which I hadn’t done before) and found it had power too. Yay! We plugged that in to start getting cold and then we collapsed.

We had previously talked about going into town for dinner but we were both too tired. I had also discussed what I could make at the cabin if I found a good soup pot, but by the time we finished Michael told me it was midnight and he wasn’t hungry (we had both had sandwhiches on the drive and snacks here and there while unpacking). So we pushed chairs out of the way, laid out a futon and our sleeping bags and crashed.

The cabin is so well insulated that I couldn’t hear the rain at first, but then as things quieted down a bit I could hear the steady patter of it on the roof, deck, and the trees. I was still pretty keyed up though and it took me an hour or so before I finally fell asleep.

Time to Leave… If We Can

In the morning we ate instant oatmeal and made some strong coffee in a sort of manual expresso maker my mother had given me. The Hills Brothers coffee I used wasn’t really suited for expresso, but it served its purpose.

We had left a few big things that still needed to be moved under the house (for lack of a better spot, for now) so we did that. Then I took Michael on a walk around the property, showed him the secret passage, the contruction trailer, and the area where I hope to garden next Spring.

We were kindof heading up to see if we could find the valve to turn on the water near the water tanks up the hill, and we spent about a half-hour looking, but without any luck. Back at the cabin, I called Susan and she told me to call her back when I was up in that area again so she could walk me to it.

We decided to get ready to go. We still needed to go pickup the new wood stove and water heater in Medford with the truck (as long as we had it) and then turn it in to a Uhaul place in Grants Pass. Also, Michael wanted to take me to CostCo in Medford to stock up on supplies before we left. So we cleaned up the truck and Michael packed his car. We would stop and find the water valve on our way out. Against my better judgement, I decided to see if the truck would make it out along the other side of the driveway loop. I knew it was steeper over there, but I also knew there was a place to turn around where the short road branched off to the little quarry (right where the secret passage is). Of course the driveway was too steep and slippery after the rains and, of course, I got stuck trying to turn the truck around.

Well, the truck wasn’t stuck exactly, it just wouldn’t back up any further and it was too dangerous to try turning it or going forward any further. It was just slipping on the mud and leaves. It was Sunday and I wasn’t too optimistic about finding a tow-truck that could haul a 14′ U-Haul truck up that steep driveway. Michael is great with people though. He called the U-Haul hotline and then information to find a towing company in Grants Pass that could help. After about 40 minutes on the phone and waiting for return calls, he made the arrangements and the tow truck arrived a half-hour later.

While we waited for the tow truck I called Susan and she verbally led us to the location of the valve along the underground pipe from the water tanks to the cottage (hidden in the woods on the other side of the driveway from the water tanks). I turned it on and could hear the water flowing down. I went down to test the water flow and make sure there were no leaks anywhere in my repairs. The water was still brown and a bit smelly, but it flowed from the kitchen sink just fine. I will purify it later and let the muddy water run out. Meanwhile, Michael investigated that secret passage in the hillside up by the trailer. About the time I returned, the tow truck showed up, and Michael popped out of the ground with a big grin.

The tow truck easily pulled that U-Haul up the steep section of drive to the point where it could complete the turn safely, and Michael (after asking the driver to stick around) attempted to take it up the other side of the driveway loop. I thought it would make it up that side, but it got stuck there too. The tow-truck driver was very understanding, tried to drive it out himself, backing up a ways first, but he couldn’t get it out either. Then he hooked up a chain to his truck and dragged it out behind him, with Michael at the wheel.

Michael very generously paid the bill too! He is a saint! I felt terrible about the whole thing, saying that I should have listened to my fears and backed up to go the other way in the first place, but he pointed out that even he (and the tow truck driver) couldn’t make it up that side either, so it really wasn’t my fault. I felt better.

Michael was excited about the secret passage and the room under the hill. I think all young boys want to have a hidden fort or secret underground passage (or tree fort if that’s the only possibility — although tree forts are hardly secret or hidden very well). This was a magical place, with its own “hobbit hole” and Michael was even more firmly approving of my move up to this lonely cabin in the woods.

I still haven’t been inside the hidden room. I figure there will be lots of time to explore once I am up there and I don’t want to discover everything right away. But he said it was big, about 15′ by 20′, that you could indeed stand up in there, that it was insulated, had plumbing and electrical wires running into it (although the vandals had been in there too). I speculated that it might make a great root/wine cellar and he agreed.

We Head Home?

Meanwhile, Susan had asked me to hold off on purchasing the new woodstove and water heater since we had a few weeks until I was up there full-time to look for better deals. A lot of time had passed while we got the truck out and we had the entire drive back ahead of us. We decided to just return the truck, skip CostCo, and drive back. We did stop for food for the trip and found a great Natural Food store in the mall near I-5. We had a great talk on the way back and Michael dropped me off at about 9:30 p.m. in Berkeley, with about a 1/2 hour drive to his own home in San Rafael. He called to tell me he was back safe and I think we both probably collapsed pretty quickly. I only took enough time to check my mail, email, call my mom, and post a short update to the blog, then I crashed.

We had spent 2 1/2 days almost constantly packing, driving, or unpacking, with moments of terror thrown in here and there. We got rained on unpacking, but the cabin was warm with the improvised door on the old woodstove. Michael had a nasty cough when we started the trip and it seemed to abate while we were up there, but by the time we got back to Berkeley we were both talking with hoarse voices. I seem to have picked up the cold or whatever it was, but it is not too bad.

All-in-all I think we escaped the experience with light consequences, and, most importantly, we had fun. Yes, Michael is still speaking to me, and spoke several times of coming back to visit for short vacations. I hope he does. In fact, there is room at the cottage for any of you who care to visit. And I should have the hot water working soon.

Now I am back “home” for a couple more weeks before I head up to the cabin full-time. I think I really started to think of the cabin as “home” though sometime during my first trip up there. I have just been marking time since then. I hope the time flies by.