The Near Miss

From our snug little parking lot at the Humboldt Fair Grounds, we hit the road southeast. Our next destination would lead us farther away from the coast and connect us with I-5 and 99 running through Sacramento, Stockton, and Modesto.  It was raining hard all day which made the driving fun. At Merced, we were scheduled to stay at a small Elks RV Resort. The roads for the first 80 miles were full of curves and hills, I-5 was straight and flat, and as we drove the traffic became heavier. Through Sacramento and Stockton, the traffic was bumper to bumper and twice we hit total stoppages on the route.  The first time Google suggested a route that was clearer, but being beginner users we decided to keep moving forward on our planned path. When traffic came to a crawl we admitted our fault and agreed we would be more accepting of Google's suggestions.

Elks RV Resort

When Ms. Google suggested a route the second time we took it and drove smoothly to the Elks RV Park with no problems. At the park, we set up and cooked dinner.  I walked over and took a shower while Linda corresponded with her sister and Mom. The park was very clean and all the facilities we very nice. We played Mexican Train and then watched the finale of Survivor. It was a good day.

Christmas Eve day and we were up and ready for a long segment of driving. The RV park host was a bit late getting the gate unlocked. This made Linda a bit edgy because she knew we had a minimum of five hours of driving ahead of us to reach Victorville and our slot at Mojave Narrows Regional Park. 

Traffic was medium-heavy and the roads were good. We traveled at 56 MPH almost all the time. Towing a Jeep makes us fall under the same rules as large trucks and in California, the speed is set at 55 MPH for those rigs. 

We were moving along in traffic and entered a long sweeping blind corner. I suddenly noticed a flash of brake lights from the very inside lane. We were in the second lane from the right side of the road. The rain had stopped but the road was still wet. I started to press on the brakes and suddenly, around the corner was a fire truck parked smack dab in the two right lanes.  I tromped on the brakes and pumped them for all I had. The Jeep-braking system immediately kicked on and I could feel the Jeep brakes catch and the rig tugged hard and then slid a bit. Our truck rumbled to a stop about fifteen feet from the fire truck! For a second I waited for the crash from the cars behind us, but nothing came! The road constricted into the two left lanes and we threaded our way into the flow, past the fire truck, and the three wrecked cars that covered the road. 

Mojave Narrows Regional Park.

The scene of the accident covered the entire freeway in both directions. One car was a mess and an ambulance was arriving as we passed. There were flashing lights all over the place! I don't know how we didn't get hit or crunched into the fire truck, but we made it and were all intact. As I drove on I tried to remember the entire event. The way the road curved made it so hard to see what was around the corner. If we had had some red flags a quarter-mile prior to the curve, things would have probably been much less dangerous, but we must have been on the crash very soon after the emergency arrived. If the firetruck had not been there we may have crashed into the mess of smashed cars in our lanes. The outcome was good and I was very glad we had the Jeep braking system working.

Just sitting on a log.

The flow of traffic resumed and we gathered ourselves together. Our nerves were tight, but we pushed on.  It was a long day and during that drive, we had to avoid other people's driving errors, so vigilance was a priority.

We entered Victorville and wound our way to the campground at Mojave Narrows Regional Park. Our spot #27 could not be found. They had labeled the spots on the hook-up posts, but then changed their minds and painted the numbers on the ground. But our spot was mislabeled and someone was there. The man who had misparked was in the process of moving so within a few minutes we were parked in our spot. 

Not duck, duck, goose...

You would think our day was over, right? Well, the power box was at the far end of the pad and we could not reach it without breaking apart from the Jeep. No problem, just a bit more work. Then, the Jeep's battery was dead! This shouldn't happen with our new system, but there we were.  I got the Jeep separated from the truck and turned the truck around and we used jumper cables to start the Jeep. This took a bit of time and was very frustrating. Once we got old Stinky Jeep started, Linda drove it around and I did the final setting up of the camper.  

We left the Jeep running and Linda got settled. I then took a drive in old Stinky Jeep 8 miles to an O'Reilly Auto Store and bought a charger to maintain our little 4 wheel drive friend. As a Christmas gift, I also bought Linda some new windshield wipers. I am so thoughtful!

Do you see it?

Back at Canyonwren, we settled in and had a chance to chat about our day. We were tired but still happy. By this time we had fully noticed the number of trains (yes trains) that passed each hour. We counted four to five on a regular schedule not 25 yards from our doorstep. A couple times they would squeak to a stop and combine cars. It was loud and a bit annoying, but this would have to do. We were here for three nights and we are safe!

Cormorants on a log, again.

Did we mention all the trains yet?