THE RAVAGES OF FIRE, Part 2.
Day 121 – We awoke this morning to the news that Highway 101 had just been closed from Santa Barbara to just north of us, 30 miles total. Mudslides. We’re lucky we came down here yesterday! Still raining on & off, and windy. We are worried the roads will be closed here or south & east of here when we attempt to get to the 405 Freeway on the 101. The Thomas fire was massive & we’ll probably pass more burned areas from it. Also, there was the fire in L.A. near the Getty Museum at around the same time, the Skirball Fire. We hear there have been mudslides in that area along the 405. It’s also pretty windy this morning. Mudslides? We hope not. Huge traffic jams on the 405 heading south thru the valley? Yes, according to the latest travel map. Another interesting drive for us today.
The 101 was closed for 30 miles from mud slides a little more than 12 hours after we passed through!
90 miles
Ventura Beach RV Resort, 800 West Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001, (805) 643-9137, https://www.vbrvresort.com/. Check-in 1 p.m. Check-out noon. The Ventura County area has many places for RV’s – County Parks & State Parks & State Beaches. But very few full-service RV Parks. This Park was located conveniently just off the Ocean & Highway 101, and shortly BEFORE the 101 turned inland to go to the Valley area of Los Angeles. Very close to the City of Ventura & the Ocean, if you want full hook-ups, this is one of very few choices. The security was high here; we’ve seen an increase in that as we get closer to Southern CA. At this point, we’re not sure why. But they issue you wrist bands to wear if you are out and about away from your RV. You are in a gated community. Police cars circulate regularly through the Park. Helicopters can be heard overhead. Maybe it was because of the weather? I guess we’ll find out as we spend more time in Southern CA. We were assigned site #55; they assign sites based on size of the RV, slide-out requirements, & the additional car you may be bringing. It was a good campsite which fit us well, and we didn’t even have to unhook the Honda from the RV – easy in & easy out. I did ask if they would allow us to drive thru & pick a site, but they said that would be a $25 charge – uh, really? Our site was fine, we did have campers on both sides of us, but most of the noise came from the traffic on the 101 & the helicopters. They were expensive, but the main reason we picked this place to stay overnight was the proximity to the 101 & the 405, and the great $20-off-your-first-night-spent-with-us discount. So we spent $61.20 to stay in a parking lot with amenities. I guess we’d stay here again MAYBE, if we were only staying one night & there was nowhere else available, but $85 is high when you can stay at a County or State Park when the fires aren’t raging & the mud isn’t sliding. LOL, sort of.
We departed Ventura Beach at 11:55 a.m. It was 55 degrees, windy & cloudy, intermittent rain. We knew we couldn’t check in at our next campground until after 2 p.m., so even though we were afraid the roads would be closed, we really couldn’t leave earlier. Just trying to get from the campground to Highway 101 South was difficult because the roads downhill near the Highway were closed due to flooding. Finally, after travelling a ways south, we found a way onto the 101. By then it was raining fairly hard. The cell phone had gone off twice in this timespan with “Serious Flash Flood Warnings” for the area we were in. (These warnings continued to follow us all the way to the campground in Long Beach.)
We passed some more burned hills to the north of us as we headed east on Highway 101. More of the Thomas Fire area. The traffic was pretty bad; the rain was coming down really hard – something they’re not used to here. Traffic was stopped completely in several different places on the 101 and the 405 Freeway due to stalled trucks & and overturned car. Ick!
The 101 in Ventura, CA. Lots of rain still to come!
The 101 in the valley during a deluge
Roads were closed into Topanga Canyon where mudslides were reported. Water was spurting out of drainage holes in walls along the Freeway. We just stayed in the slow lane with all the trucks and drove slowly. The conditions were not good. On the 405 Freeway, traffic was really bad, but this is the Freeway which is known as bad, traffic-wise. But it was NOT rush hour; it was about 1 p.m. Maybe it was better that way, stop & go, because it forced everyone to go slowly? As we approached the Getty Museum, we saw the blackened hills from that fire. Earlier, it was reported that there had been mudslides here. It was really amazing because this is a populated area right along a major freeway & it was threatened by a major forest fire. Is there nowhere safe in Southern CA? I guess I’m really feeling paranoid about now!
The rain started to lessen as we approached Torrance, Carson, & Long Beach. 59 degrees. We arrived at Golden Shore RV Resort in Long Beach at 2:30 p.m. and breathed a sigh of relief, both of us. It was a stressful drive south. Just during the time when we were driving, 5 people died from mudslides in the Santa Barbara & Montecito areas. We consider ourselves very lucky that we travelled through that area when we did.
We were assigned site #63, a wonderful campsite at the end of a row with no one on one side of us. We had lunch, then unpacked & set up. By the time we were done, the rain had stopped completely & the sun was coming out. This turned out to be a very nice campground in the heart of the City of Long Beach, near the Ocean, the Aquarium, the Ports of Los Angeles & Long Beach, and close to restaurants & shops. We’d made reservations here almost a year ago when we were planning this trip upon Rob’s retirement. It was the only one close (about 25 minutes) to Rob’s mom & we knew we’d be spending lots of time there. Glad we had made reservations; the campground is full.
We tried to relax & unwind from the drive. Having some beer & wine while cooking dinner helped. We don’t know if the girls like it here yet, but so far they’ve settled in just fine. They are such troopers. We wouldn’t trade them in for a million dollars.
Glad to see your safe and sound
Glad to see you guys post! Had been wondering how you were faring with the torrential rain and mudslides.
So glad you made it safely through Santa Barbara before the mudslides!