“I’ve decided to stop worrying. It will work out. It has to.” Says Nacole about her pending move from Olema Campground. Her worrying began about 8 months ago, when she started receiving conflicting reports of whether her family could stay or would have to leave.
Photos by Maricela Mora
There are ambitious plans for the Olema Campground by its new owner. Nacole’s is one of only three remaining trailers, all owned by employees or former employees of the campground. The trailer is her third in ten years.
Nacole left her hometown of Ashland, Oregon, at 15 and traveled to many places in the U.S. and in Mexico. She came to the Olema Campground ten years ago, soon after her son David was born. She has lived here longer than anywhere else. “I feel like a part of this place. People say ‘Hi, how are you’ and it’s sincere. It’s hard to think of starting over somewhere else,” she says.
Nacole sews, cleans two houses, does various handy work. She is a janitor at San Geronimo preschool. She has worked at the Point Reyes Health Clinic and the Olema Campground. She volunteers at her younger son Axl’s preschool.
The family is only just able to make ends meet. Sometimes Nacole has to borrow from friends. Sometimes she works in exchange instead of paying. She sewed all the curtains and her bedspread, among other things in the trailer. She modifies her own clothes. When asked what her dream job would be, she exclaims, “I want to be a fashion designer!”
With Olema Campground closing, it is unclear where the family will go next. Other nearby campgrounds only offer short term stays, or do not offer a septic hook-up. Nacole reiterates what she said in the beginning. “It has to work out,” she says. “I believe that good things happen to good people.”