Halloween Disruption

Temporary parking spot at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds

How many times now have our "best laid plans" gone awry? I've lost count.

This time Mother Nature and Southern California Edison (SCE) have teamed up to kick us around a bit... us and a whole lot of other unfortunate Californians.

Unless you've been living in a hole in the ground somewhere, you've probably heard about the fires in central and southern California... "The whole state's on fire!" That's not true, of course, but there are a few nasty fires burning here and there, some of which have been started in some way or other by electric lines.

Prevailing winds in California come from the west, but occasionally the "Santa Ana Winds" come howling in from the east with steady speeds of twenty or thirty miles an hour, and gusts that can reach up to eighty miles an hour. Tree limbs fall on power lines, sparks fly into the dry tinder, and fires erupt. To solve the problem, the electric companies have decided to cut off the power.

I'll withhold judgment on whether or not this tactic is actually working to prevent fires. They seem to be continuing to break out randomly here and there, wind or no wind. There's not a lot of talk in the media about how they're starting-- they either don't know or they're not saying (for whatever reason). But the lack of power is definitely causing widespread hardship in the state of California.

Sometime this past Tuesday night, SCE cut power to an area that included Acton and the Soledad Canyon RV Park, where we were camped. The campground's water pumps and sewer system operate on electricity. When the power still had not been restored as of Thursday, the RV Park was compelled by the county authorities to close and evacuate the occupants. It was a safety issue, they said.

I was in Lancaster at the time, enjoying a Trick-or-Treat event with Katie and Sophie at Katie's workplace. So Mark was left to pack up the coach and leave with no help from me. Fortunately, he was able to secure a spot at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park before it filled up. I met him there later in the afternoon.

Trick-or-treating at Katie's workplace,
High Desert Medical

Sophie, the Unicorn Fairy

It was a bit sobering to go through a mandatory immediate evacuation, even though there was no actual emergency. No one wants to think about having to get out of a place at a moment's notice to avoid impending doom, but this experience gave us a little taste of what it's like. It was a good drill.

The winds have died down and most of the fires are out, but Soledad Canyon RV Park is still closed. Mark has a dental appointment in Valencia on Monday, so we'll be parked at the AV Fairgrounds until Tuesday and then heading over to Idyllwild, another Thousand Trails campground, which is the closest one we could find that had any openings for more than a few days. Idyllwild is in the mountains between Hemet and Palm Desert. We haven't been there yet in our travels, but others have told us it's a nice campground. Hopefully, we won't run into any fires or power outages there. After that our plan takes us to Santa Barbara for three weeks and then back to Soledad Canyon on December 8. By then they should be back in business.

It's beginning to feel like winter. We've had two nights in a row of below freezing temps here in the high desert, and the furnace runs all night. But during the day, it's back into the 70s. The weather should be milder at the next campground, with the lower elevation and proximity to the coast.

Until next time, blessings & safe travels to all!