Our time spent on Lake Tahoe has brought us knowledge and love for this water and community.On our last Sunday we spent the afternoon cleaning up the beaches in Lake Tahoe, Nevada State Park. Like all state parks, there’s a small entrance fee but not for us gypsies. We simply explained that we would spend at least an hour cleaning the beach in exchange for taking in all the lake’s beauty and sandy beaches. Our plan was to soak it all in one last day before hitting the road again. They happily agreed.

We spent most of the afternoon walking up and down picking up garbage after a weekend of visitors. Our clean up mission was contagious as people, mostly kids, saw what we were doing and collected garbage too. Many families thanked us along the way.

Once we reached the end of the beach we jumped in the water and napped on the sand before heading back for dinner.

Since tonight was our last night staying with Mick Dodge and Moon Hair, we wanted to express our gratitude and what better way to then by cooking and tillamook ice cream. We spent the evening eating shrimp scampi and listening to Mick Dodge open up about his time spent in Vietnam and his tracking stories east of the Rockies. He promises he will never go east of the Rockies again.
The next morning we woke up extra early so we could spend time with Moon Hair before hitting the road. She took us for a hike in the woods where it ended on top of a mountain overlooking the lake. She said if she didn’t have to work so hard and could easily see the lake from her house she would never leave. She does this hike most mornings and calls it her office. We ended the hike with physical and mental stretches, connecting with the earth before thanking the directions and our ancestors. We were privileged to be included in her daily routine and immediately knew a variation of this would be incorporated into our morning routines too.