53rd Stop - Weaverville, CA
Blog Post #64 - Written April 24, 2026
Stay: September 18-25, 2025
So, there are some roads that I tried to avoid while planning our adventure. After our Utah fiasco of destroying our brakes, I tried very hard to avoid super scary roads for our massive rig and wimpy truck. Unfortunately, getting across Northern California, there is no way to avoid the terrifying roads. It was either through the mountains (from the coast to interior) or along the cliffs down the coast. Since Gary's brother, Matt, lives in Weaverville, we chose the mountains. Plus, they really don't recommend going through Big Sur (cliffs) with anything longer than 25'.
The mountains were not good to us. While driving, Gary noticed that something was wrong with the engine. The gears were pausing shifting and grinding. Not good. There wasn't much else to do but pray we make it and keep going. There aren't any good pull-offs in the middle of nowhere.
We did eventually make it (with a few extra grey hairs and a couple years shaved off our life from anxiety) into Weaverville and pulled into Matt's driveway, a bit confused as to where he thought we were going to park haha. After much finagling, we got the trailer along the back, wedged into place between a giant tree and his back deck. This was our first time having to jack up the tongue in stages in order to level out. Luckily, we were parked right next to the wood pile, full of tall, sturdy, stumps. So we stacked a few of those under the tongue while we reset the jack on a higher stack of wood to lift the trailer up higher than our jack could reach normally. And then we were all set. Phew.
The next big issue was the truck. Gary took the truck to the local mechanic, who thought it was a transmission problem. And he didn't deal in transmissions. The closest shop that did transmissions was in Redding, which was an hour away. Luckily, Matt frequented Redding enough for work, so they dropped off the truck there and Gary waited until Matt was done with work to hitch a ride back.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), it wasn't a transmission problem, but a drive shaft problem. And that mechanic didn't deal with those, so they referred him to another shop in town that did. So back to Redding Gary went, but he was a bit stuck. Matt was at work and couldn't chauffeur him around. Luckily, I have an Uncle who is a super hero, and happens to live in Redding. He took Gary from one mechanic to another and then back to Matt's work. Thanks again Uncle Scott! And now, we just had to wait for the call that the truck was done.
Luckily, the rest of our time was full of school, cousins, and fun. They have 2 kids (just the right ages for our kids), the bulkiest cat you've ever seen, and the friendliest dog. The kids spent the week climbing in the indoor rock wall up in the loft, bouncing in the basement bounce house, jumping on the trampoline, picking unripe apples and pears, and building a store in the tree house out back. If the kids weren't at school or practice, they were out having the best of times together. We did enjoy watching cousins playing in their soccer games.
The kids also found the dress up box, which was absolutely adorable.
We were invited to join the Butlers at their church potluck/ice cream party. Matt had volunteered to bring some homemade ice cream. Unfortunately, the potluck coincided on a busy day for Matt and Mandy, so I found a couple of fun recipes and tried my hand at some super dark chocolate ice cream, and a dairy-free Mango Coconut Cream. I didn't eat the chocolate one, but Gary told me it was really good. The Mango was good, but I need to better blend my coconut milk. It got a little chunky. Still delicious :)
The mountains around Weaverville are full of fun adventure spots. We spent one evening at a roadside swimming hole. It had some cliffs for jumping and a rope swing. We also went to the pump track. I was floored at how adventurous all the kiddos were. F and E are experts! Even D was out there on her balance bike. But eventually, she just liked running up and down the hills and stopping just in the right place to make everyone else crash. The evening ended with fence climbing and a very long game of Color Tag.
So remember that wood pile I told you they had? Well, Matt took advantage of having another set of muscles to help get their wood chopped and stocked for the fall and winter. Gary was happy to use an axe again and show off his manly strength ;) Matt, Mandy, and Gary all took turns with the axes, hatchets, chain saws, and stacking wood in the massive double-depth, double-breadth wood shed. And once that load was done, Matt knew where there was more. He took Gary up the mountain and they cut a fallen log into 'rounds' that they could roll down the hillside and manhandle up into the bed of the truck.
After an extra week in Weaverville, the truck was finally ready to be picked up. So another drive back into Redding to pick up the truck. But we are grateful that it wasn't the transmission and that drive shafts are significantly cheaper. And super grateful to Matt and Mandy for putting up with us for much longer than anticipated. Thank you guys, it was so fun!!
Our last evening there we celebrated Q's birthday and checked out the local Farmer's Market. The empanadas were incredible! And we got some ginger granola, which is on my list of things to master once I have a standard sized oven again.
Video: Q's birthday song while all the kids were in their silliest dress up clothes
It was finally time to head south. After Gary spent an hour trimming bushes and clearing branches out of the steep exit path, we finagled our way out of the driveway, only leaving a long thin scratch along the side of the trailer (to match the other scratch/dent we got from Matt's fence pulling in). And finally our last drive to Redding (with the trailer this time) was over and we were on our way to more family time in southern California.
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