Truckee is just up the hill from Lake Tahoe’s north shore. During the winter, it often has some of the lowest temperatures in the continental United States. Historically it’s a logging town and was also the site for major railroad construction in the 1860s. Freight and passenger trains still stop traffic as they run through town. The sound of the train’s horn is beautiful in the middle of the night. Truckee’s downtown has an Old West look but is morphing as delightful stores are mixed in with historical sites. This year is the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad and the town has published a booklet highlighting the historical buildings.
Other than this brief overview, history will have to wait for another trip, because our youngest son, Matt, and his family live just outside of town, and we’re here for a visit and to help them with some projects and celebrate family milestones.
So why are we starting this post with a picture of Peggy and Tucker (daughter-in-law and grandson)? It’s because they are showing off the new slate floor that we (primarily Barney) helped them install during this trip. What a job it was to demolish and install, but the floor is so beautiful now that it’s done!
Want to see the process? Keep on reading. This is just one part of our story about our 2019 Truckee visit.
Tucker pulling staples 
Montana pulling staples
the attractive floor. Each piece had to be backed with gooey glue to
hold it in place. Most of the time she was on her knees. Don’t know
how she did it.
Finally we had all the slate in place, and all that was left to do was the grouting. Peggy found a professional to do this last step, and we were all relieved that we didn’t have to. The end result was the first picture in this post. The floor is beautiful.
Bet you’ve been wondering where I was in this process besides taking pictures? Well, I went grocery shopping, cooked, did dishes, kept clothes clean, encouraged, and weeded the pathways for Montana’s 8th grade graduation party. You’re right, I had the easy part.
When we first planned our trip with Matt and Peggy, we thought we’d be here for about 3 weeks to celebrate Tucker’s 11th birthday and help with the floor. But then Peggy suggested we stay for Montana’s graduation and Tucker finishing 5th grade and preparing for middle school, so we decided to spend another week in Truckee and help celebrate. When we realized Peggy would be on the East Coast for a conference the week after graduation and that Matt needed help with transportation, we offered to stay one more week. For spending 5 weeks together, we’re doing okay.
sports
During our visit, we went to numerous soccer and lacrosse practices, games, and weekend tournaments. Thankfully many were in Truckee, but we did make some trips to Reno and the South Shore of Lake Tahoe; Matt and Montana drove to Southern California for a weekend tournament. Luckily they now have a Prius for all the distance driving they do. We could have given you so many more sports pictures, but you’ve all seen pictures of grands playing sports so I’ll just give you 3.
soccer – Montana
Lacrosse – Tucker (also plays soccer with a Truckee team)
Like his father, Tucker enjoys lacrosse, especially since he gets to hit other players. What a boy thing, right? It’s like that stick is a third appendage. Matt was always twirling his during middle school and early high school, and it was with him wherever he went.
Tucker – skateboarding
Tucker discovered skateboarding this spring and has been spending his money on a new board and parts. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard the terms he’s been using. Skateboarding isn’t one of my favorite sports, but it’s been great watching him figure out a new sport. Such tenacity.
When we were at South Shore for his soccer tournament, he took his skate board to a skate park for the very first time. The first few minutes he held back and observed, but then he dove right in and enjoyed practicing the skills needed for this park.
This family loves basketball and soccer! Since the NBA finals were on and the Warriors were playing, we were glued to the TV. Then the World Cup started, and we’ve been watching the women play (and the men in their competition).
Recent sports pictures of the California grands let us update our picture shelf of family grands. Now all we need is a current picture of Georgia grands!
restaurants and sightseeing
Most of the time we stayed with Matt and Peggy in our downstairs bedroom. When our bathroom was demolished, we shared the upstairs bath with the grands. When the floors were drying, we spent a few nights at the Best Western just over the Nevada state line at the Boomtown Casino. Breakfast one morning was at Mel’s Diner, a throwback to the movie American Graffiti and life as we knew it in the 1950s with drive-in restaurants. Our server the first morning was the best we’ve had in years, and we told him and his manager how good he was!
Another morning we ate out at Peg’s Glorified Ham ‘n Eggs, one of many locations in the Reno area.
When we were at South Shore Lake Tahoe for Tucker’s soccer tournament, we went out for lunch between games and found California Burger Company right along the main street. Really good food in a pleasant setting!
Barney has often talked about his days on the national ski patrol when he was going to college at University of Nevada Reno and playing football there. What I didn’t know was that most of his ski patrol work (volunteer but free skiing and no lift lines) was done at Heavenly Valley at South Shore Lake Tahoe. Since we had some extra time between soccer games, we drove up to the lodge so I could see the ski area.
Matt and Peggy live in a nice subdivision outside of Truckee that is home to Glenshire General Store and Glenshire Pizza Company and are within walking distance. The General Store has almost everything we need without having to drive the 10 miles into town to Safeway. The grands have always loved going there for “treats.” One Saturday night Peggy, Tucker, and I went for pizza at $5 for 1 large slice. What a treat.
In early June, the community had a cleanup day on Saturday. We were at a soccer tournament that day, but when we got home, we saw how someone had brought beauty to a fallen tree.
The scenery in this area is beautiful with the tall Ponderosa and Jeffrey pine trees all around us, the snow on top of the mountains, and the water rushing down the Truckee River as we drive in town and down to Reno. Barney loves the cool mornings and the warm afternoons without the humidity. I love for warmer weather though and the soft skin that humidity brings. The deer are often around; luckily we haven’t seen any bears but one did get into the home of one of Tucker’s friend’s and made a real mess.
We thought we had missed the pine tree pollen mess in Georgia last spring, but it found us in Truckee. Such a mess.
I got Peggy started on Downton Abbey and have just finished season 3 myself. Amazing how much I’m picking up the second time around as I’m looking forward to the movie this fall!
grands moving on to new schools
Tucker’s last weeks of elementary school were pretty much play and no homework. The final
3 Fridays were field trips; one was to tour the middle school and another was roller skating in Reno dressed in 80s clothes. Tucker and his buddy had fun dressing for this event.
In honor of graduating to middle school, the incoming 6th graders had their first after-school dance. Don’t you just love his new shirt?
Yes, Tucker celebrated his 11th birthday while we were visiting. His choice of a party was to go paint balling with his buddies. Matt invited Barney to join some of the fathers and another grandfather. Barn came back so energized because his Marine Corps training kicked in, and he had gone on the offensive instead of hiding out hoping not to get hit. The bruises on the boys and the men were huge; we should have had a contest to see who got the largest and most colorful bruise.
Montana was more than ready to leave middle school. Her goal for her 3 years there was to get straight A’s, and she accomplished her goal! I never even thought about having goals at this age. Wonder what her goal for high school will be.
Before graduation, one of the parents had a pre-party for the families so pictures could be taken. The girls met together after school to get themselves ready for this big night.
The incoming 9th graders were whisked off to a party at an undisclosed location. Montana came home more energized after the party than we’ve seen her in a long time. She really had fun dancing and being with friends.
time with friends, our RV at rest
While in Truckee, we were able to spend time with some friends we’ve know for years from the Bay Area. On the Sunday after paint balling, we joined the other grandfather, Tel, and his wife Donna for lunch at Fifty-Fifty, along with Joan, whom I worked for at Peninsula Bible Church when I volunteered in the elementary Sunday School classes.
Bill, Joan’s husband, wasn’t able to join us that day. He was the first Bible teacher I had at PBC and covered the New Covenant teaching in 2 Corinthians when I first became a Christian. Tel was one of the first friends Barney and I had together at PBC. Tel and I met when he was in Scribe School and I was an intern. He and Barney met as single dads with young sons. His son, Eben, was (and is) great friends with our younger 2 boys, Brian and Matt, along with Eben’s sister Emily. Eben now lives in Tahoe, and he and Matt work for companies that do construction and painting, so they are often working on projects together. Tel and Donna married when we were still living in Mountain View, and we often spent New Year’s Eve together going to a movie and dinner.
Another outing with a friend was joining Linda in Reno for lunch.
Linda taught cooking classes in her home in Mountain View, and she’s the one who taught me how to make bread. My first loaf made a good door stop—too much flour. Linda now lives in a retirement community next to a wetlands area that will never be built on; it’s a great place for her daily nature walks.
Joan (from lunch) and her husband, Bill, let us store our RV on their property for most of our stay. They have to be overly careful about bears looking for food where they live, so we had to empty out every spec of food and store it with us at Matt’s.
During this final week with family, Barney has been able to work on the truck by changing the oil, changing the transmission fluid, replacing brakes, and washing the truck and RV. Glad we had the time to do the work and that the O’Reilly’s in town has had the parts we needed.
Now we’re off to the loneliest road in the nation—Hwy. 50 through Nevada and Utah—and our last month on the road for this southwest trip to the coast and back home.
