Days 1 thru 3-- Aleisha's perspective

Dear Friends,
Leaving was hard, but it not as hard, I imagine, as it will be in a week or two when I finally realize we’ve left. We managed to get out of Arcata despite numerous small things to do at every turn of every hour, and despite Kurt’s threats to disable our car (if he did, in fact, do some tampering, it hasn’t yet become evident). We haven’t quite found a good rhythm and a good organization for living out of the car yet, but it’s getting a little easier everyday.
We’re on our third day right now, and the first day we arrived to my mom’s house (which was empty) and made dinner. I showed Evan a home video that a family friend made when I was about 15, which showed my siblings tromping barefooted and half-naked through the woods as they reenacted a scene of rural squalor. I played the part of the mild-mannered older sister who occasionally scolded my siblings. Needless to say, not much acting was required on any of our parts. Evan said it was a very enlightening video.
The second day we decided to follow my mom’s directions out to a remote alpine lake where she was staying with her husband and our crazy but lovable family friend Lewis (and by crazy I mean schizophrenic). Unfortunately, what my mom will drive her van through differs from what we will drive a van through…considerably. This road was bad…really bad. We’re talking stuff of my nightmares. Long, winding, narrow, unpaved, full of potholes, and set on an eroding cliff. It took 30-40 minutes to travel 7 miles! We survived though, and the lake was peaceful and beautiful. The cabin was plush too (it had a flushing toilet). To give an idea of the remoteness though: occasionally people will visit during the winter, but they have to cross-country ski 15 miles in. Normally there is a shovel mounted above the second storey window so that when they arrive they can dig through some of the 18 feet of snow to get in.
Anyways, we left the cabin this morning and we got to drive back on a different road (which was paved). Right now we are cozy in my mom’s house, listening to thunder and hoping the rain washes some of the dust off the faithful Avocado.
I hope all is well with you, and that life has somehow managed to continue without us ;)
Love, Rainbow