National RV closes operations

I just read that National RV in Perris California has shut down its operations today. 600 Employees were handed a letter this morning stating they were all laid off and the plant will be closing. It went on to say that this is a permanent closer and layoff. National RV is a manufacturer of Class A gas and diesel motorhomes. You may recognize their models as Dolphin, Sea Breeze, Tradewinds, and Tropi-cal. I guess they have been struggling for a few years now. We were within 30 minutes of buying a Dolphin just before we bought our Rexhall. I was cautioned about buying my Rexhall. A few people said they were going out of business soon. So far, it looks like I made the right choice. See the new 2008 Rexhalls here.

650-horsepower diesel

If I were to buy a Diesel powered motorhome, this is what I would want in it. The problem is, this engine probably cost as much as my present motorhome and can only be found in a million dollar plus coach. I can dream can’t I?

Cummins Introduces 650-HP Diesel Engine
RV Business
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Cummins Inc. introduced a new 650-horsepower diesel engine for luxury motorhomes, the ISX 650, at the National RV Show in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday (Nov. 26).

The ISX 650, with 1950 lb-ft of torque, represents a new level of performance in the premium motorhome market, the company said in a news release.

“The Cummins ISX delivers superior performance through the use of its in-house core technologies, including Cummins’ advanced electronic controls, patented VG Turbo, high-pressure fuel system, combustion technology and exhaust aftertreatment,” the company stated. “The new ISX 650 is fully integrated with the Allison 4000 MH model automatic transmission. The Allison 4000 MH model is rated up to 650 HP and 1950 lb-ft of torque. This rating and transmission integration demonstrates the ongoing collaborative efforts between Cummins and Allison Transmission.”

According to Mark Conover, Cummins’ director-RV Business, “We’ve listened to motorhome customers and understand that horsepower and performance are top of mind. The ISX 650 will provide exceptional acceleration, improved ability to climb steep grades, better downhill speed restraint with superior braking horsepower and all-around first-rate performance.”

This one got away

I survived!

Well it’s over and they have all gone home. The campground has pretty much emptied out. We have been full since Monday and now they are gone. We can relax now. For the most part everyone was well behaved but we did get our share of idiots.

I did had a little help from Security however.

He had to poke his nose in everyone’s business, especially if there was food involved.

Our daughter and her husband brought their motorhome to spend a few days with us along with some good friends. We had the greatest time.

And of course there was Thanksgiving with the family and friends. I did my usual turkey on the grill and it came out great. With the engineering background in me I can’t just toss the bird on the grill.

I hooked it up with remote temperature sensors to monitor the inside turkey temp and kettle temp. No guess work here. We are Hi Tech. We also had ham and all the thanksgiving dinner fixings. Oh and don’t forget the pies.

The weather was good and now that everyone has gone it has turned to cloudy and cool.

Full again

The campground is full again. We had 110 campers come in today. Funny thing though, I thought most would stay through Thanksgiving day but that is not true. I think I counted only 2 that are staying. According to the reservation system the campground will be full but they will be coming and going all week. I guess not everyone can get a whole week off for Thanksgiving. I am glad the guy right next to me is only staying for 2 nights. One of the first things he did when he pulled in was fire up his generator and it hasn’t been off since. Last year we had a group that took up pretty much the whole area down where we are. They were the type that didn’t think the rules pertained to them at all. I heard they might not be here this year.

I was in the right place at the right time again today. I was checking out a beehive in one of the sites when a surfer came up from the beach bleeding from the face. He told me he got hit by his board and needed help. I got on my campground radio and had the lifeguards there within minutes. Turns out the guy was OK, just a good blow to the nose. While waiting for the lifeguards I took a look at his nose, and a look at his surfboard and said, “If it’s any consolation, your board looks worse than your nose.” His board had a pretty good ding in it.

Susan and I passed our test! We both had our physicals and passed with flying colors. I think it has a lot to do with our lifestyle and the fact that we are a bit health conscious and Susan prepares healthy meals.

After sunset

Well I got plenty of sunset pictures but here is an after sunset picture.

It’s kind of like a bonus. Last night after the sun had completely gone down and it was dark the moon was shinning over the water. The ocean was so calm that the reflection was killer.

It’s a damn good thing I am not driving the motorhome in California for these 3 months. California gas prices are the highest in the country. I paid $3.50 a gallon to fill the car the other day. The car is bad enough. I wouldn’t want to fill the motorhome right now.

Finally a nice day

The weather was just great today. It’s back to shorts and flip-flops for me. What a nice change from the last couple of days where we had rain and the temperatures didn’t get any higher than the low 60s. The day started out early for Susan and I. It was our day to start our medical checkups. We went to the clinic this morning to have blood drawn. Our grandson got a kick out of watching them pull blood from his Papa’s arm. After that we all went out for a big breakfast since we had to fast before the blood draw.

I was out wandering around our end of the campground this afternoon since I am off duty. As I was heading back to the motorhome I spotted a girl in a wetsuit hobbling up from the beach. Huh…Stingray sting I bet. So I went over to see if my hunch was right. A soon as she spotted me she asked for hot water. Knowing that hot water is the best thing for a stingray sting I asked, Stingray and she answered, yes. Fortunately I was close to the motorhome so I told her to stay put and went for a bucket of hot water. I returned with a chair, a bucket of hot water, and our Camp Host radio. I called for the Host on duty who informed the Ranger on duty and soon the Lifeguards were on scene. A Stingray has never stung me but this is the second one I have seen. Although not life threatening, it sure looks painful.

Well this is how the day ended.

Even with clear skies, the sunset was great.

Surprise rain

We were woken last night to the sound of rain on the roof. Not just drizzle but down right rain. I climbed out of my nice warm bed to lower one side of the awning so the water would not pool up inside. This ruins many awnings. Then I crawled back into my warm bed, briefly thought about all the tent campers, and fell back to sleep to the sound of rain on the roof. When we woke this morning the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. It turned out to be a great day. This was totally unexpected. Even the weather forecasters didn’t have a clue.

Many spent the afternoon exploring the tide pools.

Later a surfer takes a brief time out to catch the sunset.

Back to normal

Ah, the sounds of pounding tent stakes, wood pallets being broken apart, kids playing, and the smell of campfires. It’s back to normal down at our end of the park. Sure our solitude is gone, but it’s kind of nice to see the families getting settled in for the weekend. We had over 130 campers check in today. This weekend is our Saturday off so we are free until Tuesday afternoon. I am sure I will have to remind a few campers of the rules and assist a few others but… that’s what I’m here for.

Loosing our solitude

Tomorrow the whole park will be open again. Our end of the park has been closed down for maintenance for about a month now and it sure has been nice and quiet down here. This is not to say that I had the month off since us Hosts cover the whole park. It’s been much easier with half the park closed down meaning half the people but not necessarily half the problems. I took the opportunity to do an oil change on the motorhome. Even though I have a few more privileges than the average camper since I live here fulltime for 3 months, I am not sure if oil changes are one of them and didn’t want other campers to think they can do the same.

If you ever want to experience how crazy some people can be, try Camp Hosting. The other night I thought it was rather strange that one of the bathrooms was locked every time I passes it. I finally informed the Rangers that we might have a “Bathroom Camper”. Sure enough, one of our local homeless took up residency in the bathroom. We have a “Crazy Lady” that every conversation with her becomes a confrontation. The other night she confronted the wrong person (Ranger) and almost went to jail. She was ejected from the park, but she will be back.

As with most State Park campgrounds along the California coast, a train runs very near the park. During the day it’s not too bad since only the local commuter trains run. These are modern, short and fast so the noise is minimal and it is over with quick. The problem is at night when the slow moving, long freight trains come through. They are pretty noisy. We have had campers check out early because they couldn’t handle the noise. They said they were heading home to get a vacation from their vacation.

The calm before the storm

Since the reservation system canceled everyone’s reservations until tomorrow, the park is real quiet and relatively empty today. Tomorrow will be a different story though. We have a bunch coming in tomorrow and the rest will be arriving Friday for the weekend. Out of 171 sites, 88 are closed for maintenance so that will keep the crowds down a bit but still we are going from about 25 campers to 83 in 2 days. Check in time should be fun. Hopefully they all don’t show up at once. We are supposed to have great weather this weekend so that will be a good thing.

San Diego Fires

Here is a link to some San Diego fire related videos.
http://www.youtube.com/signonsandiego

Message Board

I have just added a message board to our website. You can go there by clicking on the “QuickTopic” link in the left column. I don’t know if this will be something we will use or not, but I thought we would give it a try. If it catches on, I will add more topics as time goes on. This is a very simple Message Board to use. There is no need to register or sign in to read and post messages.

All clean

I finished the cleaning job today. We are all clean again. From the top of the motorhome to the mats on the ground around the motorhome. Even the car is all clean again. Mentally I fell much better. Physically I am a bit sore.

Rain

From hot, dry, windy, and fires to rain. Well more like drizzle. We had just enough rain today to really mess things up. With all the ash, things are a mess. I went out today and hosed things off just to keep the ash from really sticking to everything from the moisture. Tomorrow is supposed to be back to warm and sunny so it would have baked the wet ash right into everything. By tomorrow I should have everything cleaned up again.
We have only a couple of evacuees left since most are cleared to head home. Things should get back to normal at the park now. Well…if you want to call it normal.

Today for instance, we had a complaint from a gentleman that last night the campers next to him were dousing a football with gasoline, setting it on fire, and kicking it around the campsite. We talked to them this morning and informed them that they will probably get a visit from a Ranger. I took a drive by the site and since they are all minors, they were pouring all their beer out on the ground. It just so happened the Ranger was right behind me and spotted the same thing. They were immediately evicted.

Dirty

As I stated things are improving here. I spent the day yesterday cleaning up a bit but not too much. There is still a lot of fall out of ash from the fires left in the air. Soon after cleaning up, everything is covered in a lite coat of ash. I will just have to wait for a few days before I can really clean things up.

Landen, our Grandson, came to spend a few days since school has been canceled for the rest of the week. He got a chance to see the horses we have in camp this morning. The horses have left now since they were cleared to go back to their homes. The horse owners were so appreciative that we were able to accommodate them. It was the least we could do under the circumstances. Their vet even brought them donuts and coffee this morning and checked on the horses.

Cleanup

Things are looking better here at the campground. Much of San Diego is still on fire and not contained. There are still evacuations going on but a lot of people have been allowed to go back to their homes. I spent much of the day cleaning the ash off everything but am reluctant to spend too much effort since there is still ash in the air. The wind has turned around and is now blowing the ash and smoke in that has blown out to sea. There has been some evacuees coming into the campground but not as many as I expected.

We even have a number of horses in the park that were evacuated. Although this is not a horse park, we are doing our best to accommodate them. For some reason the reservation system canceled all reservations until the end of the month. This is really causing problems for us as people come in expecting to have reservations.

Better air

The smoky skies mad a nice view over the ocean this evening. Things are getting better here in San Diego. The winds have dropped and the humidity is increasing. Things are still bad but where we are the air quality has increased considerably.

I guess Jack-o-lanterns get old and crotchety too.

This is a photo of the Pumpkin my Grandson carved just 3 days ago

Now this is what it turned into after the dry hot weather we have had in the last 3 days.

Getting better

The winds are subsiding, changing direction and the humidity is going up. That is good news. The bad news, it will still take some time to get everything under control. One of the fires is still threatening us, however we still have not received any evacuation notice and hopefully, if things continue to improve, we will not need to. The air has cleared considerably here and we are getting a slight ocean breeze. It is a shame we have had this nice warm weather with clear skies and haven’t been able to enjoy it because of the fire threat, smoke, and ash.
We are not even close to being out of the woods yet but it is looking better.

We are still here

CLICK HERE FOR FIRE UPDATES

We got a fairly good night sleep last night. We have not been evacuated as yet. There still is a possibility since the fire threatening us is 0% contained. They have evacuated the area 2 towns south of us and 2 towns north of us. The good side is, the winds have subsides and there is even a weak onshore wind which will blow the fire away from us. This allows the fire aircraft to get in the air to help fight the fires by air. They are predicting the winds and heat to continue thru tomorrow. The air quality is still bad and even though the wind changes direction it will bring the smoke over the ocean back in. Everything is covered in ash and I still wear my particle mask whenever I go outside.

Filtered sun

Here is a picture of the smoke filtered sun reflecting on the waves. You can see the smoke over the ocean as well. With all the evacuations in the area, I am surprised the campground has not filled up. They have done a really good job of providing lots of shelters all around San Diego County. Susan is not going to get any sleep tonight.