Truckee Means 'It Will Be All Right'

The word Truckee means “It will be all right,” and comes from 1844, when the first US settlers crossed the Sierra here near Tahoe. They encountered a Native in Northern Nevada who said to them a word that sounded like, “Truckee, truckee.” He then drew lines in the earth, telling them there is a river on the other side of the mountains, full of fish,  Then he'd say Truckee, Truckee, and the travelers knew it meant, “It will be all right,”  The Native then guided the Stephens Party across the mountains and when they got to the river, they named it the Truckee. So Truckee, California, which is the town just up the road from here, is named for a word that means, “It will be all right.” A nice sensitivity for me to find as I learn about the place where I've moved. (Source: Sierra Stories by Mark McLaughlin)

People smile a lot here in Tahoe, even when they are not smiling. The lines and creases over the years give them permanent happy faces. 

Tahoe is a Hidden Gem

if you Google map from up too high, Tahoe disappears and all you see in California are the cities. Uh-uh, Tahoe is a hidden gem and we are getting SNOW today.

I moved here in March and as I unpacked, began to wonder how I’d fare here in winter with the snows. Then we get this fluke storm on April 25 that is bigger than any that hit all winter, and I'm getting a taste of it, and it's EASY here because it snows but it doesn't get that cold. Lake Tahoe and the area around it is a hidden paradise.

The nicest person I met in Lancaster was still mean.  The meanest person I've met in Tahoe is still nice. 

-k3

View from my home today

As opposed to last week in Lancaster, this is what I see from my new place in Tahoe today:

Kay Ebeling is a long term visitor to Tahoe now

-ke

One Last Look At Lancaster

Out my window, most nights, I'd see a homeless guy in a wheelchair sleeping between the former veterans med clinic and other vacant office buildings on Lancaster Blvd. My last night before moving to Tahoe, he was there, and as I stuck my camera, discreetly, out the window, he got up and peed a few feet from where he was sleeping, then got back in his chair covered himself with his blanket, and went back to sleep.  Then next morning a group of workers parked in same spot, and sat to take a break in the same spot where the homeless guy peed.  So Long, Lancaster.

Here is the Last Look at Lancaster sequence of still shots:

He's there again, sleeping, as I've seen so many nights before.

Wait, he's waking up.

Hope he does not see me, shooting from between my blinds, what is he doing?

Oh no, I've seen him do this before. He gets up and pees by those pipes, then gets back on his chair and goes back to sleep.

He takes a looooong pee,

Then heads back to his chair to sleep some more..

Next AM Workers on Break Sit in Same Spot!

And I am OUTTA HERE!  Drove a U-Haul to Tahoe two days later, changing my life.

-ke

Two sides of US life Fall 2014

Images of Lancaster CA today

\

Patriotic people from all parts, an influx of lost Americans

You can see the breakdown of the American economy all over Lancaster Boulevard. I take pictures as I'm out walking.

I love The Boulevard for its music and entertainment, but truth is, this is what you see here on ordinary days.

Woman at left asks me for spare change every time I pass her, past few months. I always say, I'm broke too, but she keeps asking, just like my daughter.  "I don't have any money either!"


(More pics TK) \


-ke

Video, Hungry in Lancaster

They arrive around 10:45


 Then they wait



And then the van arrives (and my battery in camera dies)



Read more and see still photos of watching the hungry line up for food from my porch here.

-ke