Solo life on 30 amps - Living full time in an RV: July

Total camping trips in the motorhome: 151

Total solo camping trips: 88

Well, with the entry into July, we are officially in summer. And with summer, comes 100 + degree days. Remi and I started out the month camping out in Manteca at the Turtle Beach Thousand Trails park. We really like the park here, and we were glad that we could eventually land a full hookup site that had 50 amp service. This is a rarity for us, because most Thousand Trails parks only have 30 amps, but having 50 amps as well as sewer connections is a wonderful break from some of the more limited connections we have as a general rule.

Despite the high heat, I do try to get Remi and I out for a few minutes each day so as to not live inside the motorhome 24 hours a day any season of the year. One day, we went to a park that is just east of Turtle beach. There was a cool, train trestle, which though it appeared to be decades old, it very much was still in working order. The park, was named after Michael Vega of Lathrop, who gave his life in service to our country. The walk that we went on was less than a quarter mile, but it gave Remi a chance to get some sniffs in, and to relieve her self.

I recently found that I was not able to charge the Jeep. It turned out that a public charger that I had tried to use at some time had a bent connector, and as a result, caused the connector inside the Jeep to be bent. With my connector now being bent, I could not charge the Jeep. After consulting with a Jeep owners group on Facebook, I found that with a simple pair of pliers, I could bend the connection back into place. Always be sure you know what you are getting yourself into when attempting such repairs. In my case, the connection was a data port that was low voltage. Regardless of the voltage, after following the recommended safety procedures of pulling the appropriate fuse and leaving the hood up, which allowed additional safety protocols to be engaged on the Jeep, I was able to bend the connector back into place (Lower left hand corner) and now the Jeep charges again! Yay... I love the Jeep! 4XE.

On the fourth of July, Remi and I went for a drive around Manteca and found this set of wonderful murals in downtown that were attached to the side of a local proprietor of Mattresses. It is so cool to see these displays of Patriotism.

The plan for later this month was for me and Remi to go check out the campground at Castle Crags in preparation for a trip on labor day where Ally, and her two dogs would join Remi and I on a camping trip to Castle Crags to explore Siskiyou county. Since the motorhome doesn't fit into State Campground sites, I bought my self a tent and an air mattress to go camping with. I figure if Remi and I can not hack it in the tent, it is better to know that before we go up and try to have a good weekend with Ally and her dogs and then find out we are miserable in the tent, or that we just can't make it work. So, now that I have the tent, I wanted to try setting it up at the RV park at Lake Minden. I must say, I'm very happy with the setup!

Unfortunately, the trip this month to Castle Crags never happened. The Wednesday before the camping trip, the Park fire broke out in Butte County. It was at 50,000 acres Thursday evening. I decided at that point, if I could get a kennel space for Remi at Arboga Kennel for Remi, that I would go help out at the Park fire for the three days that I had originally slotted for this camping trip. I figured, when labor day got here, we would just figure it out. On Friday morning, I was able to get Remi a spot at the kennel and I went up to Butte County to help with evacuation activities, in what ever way I could. I ended up working with Susan, and amazing evac team lead. I have worked with Debbie Silcox, my former boss at CDCR in the past, and both women are exceptional. We went to probably 12 addresses on Friday as well as Saturday. Susan is a machine, and I as a rookie, was literally struggling to keep up, but we had a lot of addresses to serve. Though I was thankful that we did not find any carcasses, I know there were animals that did not survive. The devastation was immense. For me, the experience was more physically exhausting than emotionally. I think all my years in doing dog rescue helped me to build that wall to some degree. We managed to save and evacuate a cat that had escaped from a home that was destroyed, and we fed several head of cattle, as well as a long horn bull, lots of dogs, chickens and various other animals.

It was a very rewarding experience, but after the second day, I was really questioning if I could do what Evac required. At that point, I asked to do something other than go out into the field on Sunday, I needed a break to evaluate if I really knew what I was doing there, and if I belonged there and what I truly wanted to do. So on Sunday I started out my day by going and getting all of the dirty nomex washed so it was ready for the teams going out into the field on Sunday. After I was done with laundry, I then tried my hand at running the radio at the staging area, and that worked out well for me. After a week or so of reflection, I did come away, wanting to do field work in evac, I just needed to be sure about that for myself.

One of the coolest stories to come out of the Park Fire for me, was the Butte County Sherriff's office flying in a helicopter to rescue a momma dog and her puppies from the fire zone. A Butte County Sherriffs office Search and Rescue member who is also a NVADG volunteer named Trevor, was flown in, hiked to the car, and got the momma dog and her five puppies to follow him back.