Yesterday, I drove up to Riverside County to visit my step-dad. It rained all the way on the 75-mile drive. We sat and talked for a while. After about an hour, Ken seems to become tired of visiting. He will say, “Well, you probably should go before the traffic gets heavy.” So, after about an hour of visiting, I left.

On the drive down I-15, traffic came to sudden stop near the junction of highway 76. I could see emergency vehicles on the grade ahead. Two lanes were blocked. I’d never seen so many fire engines and ambulances at the scene of a wreck. As we inched forward, I saw more ambulances staged on an overpass and on-ramp.  I knew this had to be a bad crash.

When we finally came to the site of the wreck, I saw two badly mangled cars and thought it must have been a multi-vehicle crash, maybe due to the weather. It had been raining off and on all day, sometimes pouring down hard. As I passed by ambulance after ambulance, I saw something that made my stomach turn. There was a large tour bus lying on its side on the freeway. I don’t know how it happened. Later, from watching the news, I learned that at least one person died and many were taken to area hospitals. I also heard that one person miraculously walked away from the bus unharmed.

I snapped a couple of shots while I was stopped in traffic

It’s a somber reminder how things can go wrong on the road. We need to drive safely and defensively.

Last night I was sitting at my computer looking at used motorhomes for sale. The coach started rocking. Donna asked, “Are you doing that?” I said, “No, that’s not you doing that? It must be an earthquake.” The Christmas decorations Donna hung in the windows were swaying back and forth. It was a fairly mild earthquake. According to the Union-Tribune, it was a 4.6 magnitude quake centered 57 miles southeast of Ensenada, Mexico. We felt a couple of aftershocks, but it wasn’t a big deal. We weren’t going to fall into the sea or anything.

I picked up something yesterday that should be useful. When we set up in a site, I put blocks under the jacks before I level the coach. I made 12″x12″ leveling blocks from treated 2×12 lumber and laminated them with 1/2″ plywood. Using these under the eight-inch-square steel pads of the jacks spreads the load. If we’re parked on dirt, gravel or grass, it’s more stable and the jacks won’t sink into the ground. On asphalt, in warm conditions, the steel jack pads can damage the asphalt. On concrete, it isn’t necessary, but I still use them to reduce the amount of extension of the jacks.

Putting the blocks under the jacks pads means I have to kneel down to place them in the right spot. I bought knee pads to make kneeling down more comfortable. I think they will work fine. I used a mat before, but that meant I had to carry the mat and the blocks to each corner of the coach. Now i can just strap the knee pads on and get to work. You can check out the knee pads here. *

Today, the skies are blue and the sun is shining. It may the beginning of the rainy season here, but it rarely rains for days on end. Two guys from Extreme Detail are scheduled to come to our site around noon. They will wash and wax our coach.  They will clean the roof and awnings also. The coach hasn’t been washed in months. The Mission Bay RV Resort doesn’t allow guests to wash their rigs onsite. This is a common rule in many RV parks. Extreme Detail is approved to wash coaches because they use a waterless method. They figured the job would take four to five hours.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to search the internet for a class A diesel coach.

*Just so you know, if you decide to purchase one these through the Amazon link in this post, I’ll earn a small commission. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!