Now we had seven days to drive from Washington State south to Sea Ranch. This would not be a leisurely drive but dedicated with stops every night. The first challenge was maneuvering through Seattle. Using the AllStays app, we found Holiday Fam Camp for military and veterans at McChord AFB. How amazed we were to find this camp that had the feel of a National Park within a lovely forest so close to an urban area. The sites were well spaced apart; our site had hookups. We unloaded the bikes and rode for miles on a bike trail that took us on flat surface past fields and open space with flocks of birds, past the air field and eventually to the main buildings on the base. Truly a favorite of the trip.

Our next stop was a HipCamp mushroom farm on Sauvie Island on the outskirts of Portland. We ended up on a very narrow road atop a dyke with drop offs on each side, the river to our left and fields to our right. We missed our turn, which dropped off before we even saw it, so we kept driving to the first place wide enough to turn around, miles beyond our mushroom farm. We startled some fishermen and one man came over to say we were about to hit his car and asked us what we were doing. He condescendingly told us there was a turnaround down the road. I can understand his dismay as we were recklessly trying to turn our rig around in a place where it was obviously near impossible. We had another harrowing drive back to the mushroom farm and did a U-turn down a steep drive. After waiting another 45 minutes for the HipCamp host to text us about where to park, we settled in a large clearing. Whew! What an ordeal. We never found any mushrooms, but our host farmer was now growing medicinal cannibis. We loved the privacy of the site with electric and water hookups. We were surrounded on all sides by farmland — very picturesque, peaceful, quiet and enough blackberries to pick for breakfast. The farm to our south was a potato field.

Our next stop: a county Park in Junction City, Oregon, Richardson Park RV Park. Very impressive campground with plenty of activities for everyone. We had a good hike after dinner to the lake in the Park and bike ride the next morning on the paved bike path. We found County Parks were often some of the nicest campgrounds with well-kept facilities; a bonus is a lot of county parks offer hookups.

Driving past Grants Pass Oregon to Lake Selmac County Park in Selma, Oregon, we settled in a private camp site in a forested area. After watching two young boys frolicking in the lake, we decided if they could play in this lake, surely we could swim. Alas, not the best decision as the water was pretty stagnant and home to flocks of ducks and their droppings and feathers. This County Park surrounded a lake with several campgrounds. We enjoyed biking and exploring. Our site offered hookups.

Our next stop was Mystic Forest RV Park in Klamath, stopping in Crescent City to meet Gary and Nancy Socha for lunch. We loved visiting with the Socha’s and walking along the harbor. Mystic Forest was a favorite of mine; the hosts are a lovely couple that were keeping their RV park open and running while the State Parks in the area were either partially open or closed, which meant the elderly couple running Mystic Forest were doing double duty finding spaces for everyone. We were squeezed between two trailers and felt like intruders in our neighbor’s camps. Exiting from one of the trailers was a blonde bombshell that turned out to be the best, excellent mother of a screaming toddler and two other children. They had driven all the way from back east with their three children in their motor home. Her profession was an emergency room nurse.

Continuing south, we had two more stops, both unmemorable. The first night we stayed at Giant Redwoods RV Campground in Myers Flat where we had hot weather and had to run the AC, a first for trip so far. The next day we left Hwy 101 at Willits and drove west on a winding, twisting road to Ft. Bragg; to say the least, it was a challenging drive. The second night we spent at the Manchester Beach Mendocino Coast KOA and it was packed. Many of the RV Parks that were open seemed to us to be impacted because of closure of National Forest and State Campgrounds. We had the good fortune or bad fortune to get to listen to Mexican music from a large group staying in one of the KOA cabins so not exactly relaxing. Finally the next day we pulled into Sea Ranch for two weeks of rest.

Dave and Cathy visit us for a couple nights — lots of good food, wine, hikes, and soaks in the hot tub. So happy to have friends share some time and memories with us.

Sea Ranch was a nice break for us from trailer travel, a two-week respite, albeit with daily maintenance chores to keep our home shipshape for renters. We were enjoying beautiful, clear skies and the beauty of Sea Ranch and were oblivious to the wildfires burning to the south and east. It took a text from friends Steve and Marty telling us they had been turned back because of road closures on their way to Sea Ranch from the Bay Area. We turned on the television. What a shock to see all the devastation just hours from us, yet skies were clear on our piece of the coast. We tried to extend our stay at Sea Ranch but our home was booked for months out; what to do? After many fruitless tries to find parks that would take us, we decided our best choice was to get through the Bay Area as fast as we could, avoid the smoke and get over the Sierras to Hwy. 395. This turned out to be an excellent idea, skirting the Bay Area and pushing through Rio Vista to Jackson and Hwy. 88 past beloved Silver Lake and over the Sierras to Gardnerville, then south on Hwy 395. We drove down many dead ends searching for campsites, finally landing a site for one night at Bridgeport Reservoir Marina. Sunset was stunning, the camp was quiet, we were right on the reservoir, with duck families and nights were cool, skies clear. Luck was with us, at least for one night.

Leaving Bridgeport, driving south on 395 to Lee Vining, we veered right on Hwy 120 towards Yosemite hoping to find something. Here we had one of those magical moments when we discovered Aspen Grove Campground, a National Forest Campground that was first come first serve — AND there were available sites! We grabbed the first campsite we saw because, well, because it was there and available. One of the tricks we learned on the road was to arrive at first come first serve campgrounds before noon, Sundays and Mondays were good bets, and avoid arriving on Friday or Saturday.

Because we were in Campsite 1, many campers thought we were the campground hosts, resulting in lots of conversations. A group of young girls that had driven from Hayward, Ca, and were getting desperate for a campsite asked our permission and we granted it. I told them if no one was in the site and there was no tag on the post, it was first come and first serve and they should grab it before someone else did. They were giddy with joy. Another young man came running past our camp saying a bear was in camp. Next we heard the most raucous noise, car horns honking, pots banging, yelling. We learned the next day from the “real” camp host a bear had come visiting and took dinner right off the table as the campers were eating, sending them scurrying.

A day trip took us on Hwy 120 towards Yosemite to Ellery Lake. We were dying for a swim but this beautiful alpine lake showed no sign of swimmers. Undaunted, Bill waded in the snow-melted, frigid waters and dove in. Later he told me, he quickly realized he was in over his head as his body temperature dropped rapidly and he knew he had to get out of this ice water before he became a statistic. I got my feet wet.

We stopped by a visitor store in Lee Vining that was actually open [almost all of the visitor centers on our trip were closed] and met a kind lady who shared area history. How surprising to learn we had in common Sun City Palm Desert, where her sister lived. This lady told us about a hike that was off the beaten track and not likely to have many hikers. We followed her advice and had the trail literally to ourselves with stunning scenery, like hiking in Yosemite, next to a stream bed and up a canyon.

I point out how clear the air was on this hike because our luck was about to change. We came back to camp and noticed a dark, ominous cloud to the west. The cloud grew in size and the bright day turned gray. Concerned about the cloud being smoke, we drove to town to see if there was a fire and if we should leave. Sure enough, we learned there was a fire burning to the southwest and smoke was drifting over the Sierras. We were in no danger. Back at camp, one of the local store owners drove up and because he thought we were the camp hosts, told us he’d never seen anything like this season in all his years running a sporting and outdoor store. Next came a family with a sad tale that their reservations in Mammoth Lake had just been canceled. Where were they to go?

A day that had begun so beautiful had turned quickly. It wasn’t long before the Camp Host stopped by to tell us we had to evacuate the next day. The smoke was coming from what became known as the Creek Fire. It began near Shaver Lake on the West side of the Sierras and and was described as the fourth-largest wildfire and largest single Source fire in modern California history. As of December 16, 2020, the Creek Fire had burned 379,895 acres. Hundreds of people had to be rescued. I felt we were fortunate that we had reservations in the San Bernardino National Forest so at least we had somewhere to go. But no, our camp host informed us all of San Bernardino NF was closing also. We were sad to leave. The next day we headed south on Hwy 395, destination unknown. Wonder of wonders, we somehow ended up on a side road, Hwy 14 and came upon Red Rock Canyon State Park where there was a plethora of sites. Who would know? The elevation is 2600’; temperatures were mild in early September.

I found this Campgound and State Park fascinating; first, because I’ve never heard of it; second, it’s in the middle of nowhere with all these campsites and not a soul to be seen; third, there was a unique beauty in the isolation, scenic desert cliffs, and the utter stillness.

Maybe someday we’ll return to this unusual landscape; but while wildfires were burning up California, this was an oasis not known to many and explored by me as I walked the entire campground. We did have a reservation that night in Mountain Valley RV Park in Tehachapi so we pressed on. We weren’t ready to go home so we ended our trip where we started, outside Idyllwild at Lake Hemet. We spent another eight nights at Lake Hemet where we had hookups. The nights were very cool and daytime saw smoke drift from fires burning to the north. We returned to Palm Desert September 18, 2020.

So what happened next? Read on to Road Trip Pandemic Three because we were not finished with our travels, just temporarily sidelined.