Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA

We don’t usually write about KOAs that we stay at because, well, they’re the McDonalds of campgrounds – mediocre, average, and unsurprising. You always know what you’re getting.

However, the Cloverdale KOA is different . . . and then some.

First, it’s a long and winding 4-mile road into this KOA. It’s narrow, tree-ey, and one-lane in a spot.

It’s worth the drive.

Jalama Beach – Final 3 Days

Well, it started off nice . . .

And then this happened Saturday afternoon (the day before we leave) . . .

We lost power to the RV. Unbeknownst to us we were running on just our batteries for a few hours, and the batteries dropped to 38% capacity – VERY bad.

Long story short . . . our Surge Guard unit gave up the ghost. The Surge Guard is what protects the RV against electrical faults from campground power. You betcha. The unit was less that 1 year old. When we arrived at our next campground, we tried plugging it in again to a new power source, but nada. The Surge Guard is toast.

Luckily, we were able to “re-wire” (actually reroute) our power cables so that we could connect to shore power without going through the now dead Surge Guard.

But wait, there’s more . . . at 1:25 am . . .

So, after opening all the RV windows, the detector still beeped, so I clipped its power wires and we went to sleep.

We were alive in the morning.

Jalama Beach, CA – First 3 Days

After 3 days on the beach, there’s much to report . . .

Good News – 9-Year-Old Gas Cards Still Worked

When we started full timing 9 years ago, we were given Mobil gas cards. Well, they still work!

Bad News – Needed new Jeep Battery

After our first night’s stay in the Lost Hills KOA, our Jeep failed to start. Bought a new one in the Lompoc, CA O’Reilly auto parts store and changed it out in the parking lot . . .

More Bad News – Damaged the Rear Cap of our SeaView RV

Yikes! Though there was no serious structural damage, it will still be pricey to fix.

It happened while taking a detour through this posh Lompoc, CA suburb. As we drove over a speed bump (actually a “valley”), Jan hit the brakes and the front of the Jeep rose up really fast and hit the rear cap of the RV.

Great News – Jalama Beach

After traveling down a literally long and winding road to the ocean, we arrived at Jalama Beach at about 5 pm on Monday the 25th.

Oil-lama Beach

On our 2nd day we took a short walk to the beach and back. On our way back to our RV, we noticed a really strong tar smell. Turned out that we had inadvertently stepped on one of the tar balls (or turds) that litter the beach. The shoes that we used are now stored outside until we clean them with acetone.

There are a couple of oil platforms just off the coast that we figured were leaking. However, a park ranger clued us into the Coal Oil Point Seep Field (Google it) . . .

Jalama Burger

A great end to the first three days on the beach . . .

Oak Fire – 3rd Time is the Charm?

8/7/22 Update: As of 6:59 pm the Oak Fire is 19,244 acres with 94% containment.

8/1/22 Update: As of 6:53 pm the Oak Fire is 19,244 acres with 74% containment.

7/29/22 Update: As of 7:38 am the Oak Fire is 19,208 acres with 45% containment.

7/27/22 Update: As of 3:54 pm the Oak Fire is 18,715 acres with 32% containment.

7/26/22 Update: As of 9:24 am the Oak Fire is 18,087 acres with 26% containment.

7/25/22 Update: As of 8:56 am the Oak Fire is 16,791 acres with 10% containment.

7/24/22 Update: As of 6:59 pm the Oak Fire is 15,603 acres with 0% containment.

7/23/22 Update: As of 9:10 pm the Oak Fire is 11,900 acres with 0% containment.

FRIDAY, JUNE 22

We’re getting ready to leave for our RV trip this Sunday. So on Friday afternoon while walking down to our RV, I saw this . . .

Yep, another wildfire near us. It’s called the Oak Fire, and it started in Midpines which is about 7 miles from us.

At about 5 pm, I took this picture from the Pioneer Market grocery store . . .

Jan and I decided to get our RV out a day early and load it up so that we could leave in a hurry.

By 8:20 pm the fire was about 1,700 acres and growing when I took this picture from inside Idle Wheels RV park . . .

As we took our evening walk around Idlewheels, we met a couple who had been evacuated from Midpines and were staying in their camper at Idle Wheels

Shortly thereafter we saw another camper in the street set up for the night . . .

SATURDAY, JUNE 23

Since we arrived in Mariposa, we knew wildfires were a fact of life, and this is one of the reasons we bought the RV . . . so that we can get out of Dodge in a hurry.

Also, we investigated “escape” routes . . . roads that we could use to get out of town. These are colored GREEN in the map above:

• Highway 49 – the northern route of this road contains hairpin turns and steep drop offs making it the worst escape route. The southern route towards Oakhurst is one of the best ways. However, part of the road is now closed because of the Oak Fire.
• Ben Hur Road – we discovered this road when we camped at Codorniz Campground on Eastman Lake. While much of this route is ok, some of it gets very bumpy.
• Highway 140 – this road leads to Merced and is probably the best escape route. Part of this road was closed due to the Aqua Fire, but Highway 140 is now reopened.

Agua Fire is 2 miles away

7/23/22 Update: Agua Fire is now 100% contained.

7/22/22 Update: Agua Fire is now 89% contained.

7/21/22 Update: Agua Fire is now 70% contained.

This afternoon I heard planes flying overhead. At first I didn’t think anything of it because we’ve grown used to helicopters ferrying water to the nearby Washburn fire. But soon there were a couple of LARGE jets overhead – flying water tankers.

Besides the airplanes, we could see dark smoke rising from behind the 2,800′ foothill southwest of our house. We could smell the fire too.

Needless to say, we were concerned. We speeded up packing for our upcoming RV trip which starts this Sunday.

As of 5:30 pm today the Agua fire is 343 acres and 10% contained.