The Trials Of Thousand Trails

It's a love-hate relationship.  I bought into Thousand Trails Campgrounds a few years ago.  Got a great deal that allows me to stay 365 days a year for my dues of around $500.  Stay about 20 days and the rest of the year it's free.  That was BEFORE they began allowing the public to stay at these once membership only campgrounds.  Now it's hard to find a spot, no matter where you go.

After an early morning departure from Seaside (no traffic to speak of), I arrived to find no one here.  The gate having been broken early last year, has never been repaired.  I could have just driven right on in, but I waited up front and pushed the button on the speaker/com until someone finally answered.

It seems the management was fired, along with most of the employees, a couple of months ago.  I'm here to tell you that's not a bad thing.  Management in this park has been horrible.  Maybe now it will improve.

The biggest problem here is that whoever designed it didn't know what they were going.  There is one electrical box with plugins for two rigs ... meaning one gets 50 amp (whoever arrives first) and one gets 30.   Those are the even numbered sites, which allow the connections to be made on the correct side of your rig.  If you get an odd numbered site, your electrical connection will be on one side while your water and sewer are about 89 feet away on the opposite side of your rig.  Cool, right?

Having checked it out the night before ... yes, I drove all the way up here to see who was leaving the morning I would arrive ... I parked my rig at the end and waited, like a vulture looking for roadkill.  After an hour, I finally casually walked by and asked if this trailer indeed would be leaving.  Yup ... in about two hours.  Okay then .... do you mind if I just park by this cabin?  I promise I won't eat your little kids.

This is a primo site, with all the connections on the right side and lots of room for the puppies to run right outside the door.  I have noticed an abundance of mosquitos this year.  So far two have sucked the blood right out of me. About the size of their Alaska brothers, they fly much faster, so are harder to kill.  Kind of like that huge spider I found in my bathroom sink yesterday!!  Talk about smashed to smithereens ......

I immediately noticed these people come in and set up camp.  How cute is this!!  It's a teardrop pulled by their little car (with a turbo he said) which he had specially painted to match.  I'm not sure where they keep their clothes since the queen size bed goes from wall to wall.

Here's the back.  The section pulled out has a portable gas stove with the fridge (ice chest) on the bottom right.  It's really pretty cute with loads of storage space.  Course there's no bathroom and no kitchen sink, but still ... it's cute as a button.

First stop ... the post office so I could be sure they still accepted General Delivery.  I ordered that vacuum from Amazon as you suggested.  If I'm really lucky, it will arrive today!!  Who ever thought I'd be happy to get a vacuum???

Second stop, Scoopers.  If you haven't been here, put it on your list.  It's the biggest candy and ice cream store in the state I think.  Notice the new CONCRETE parking lot.  Last year the locals complained so much they finally replaced the chuckholes with cement.

Note to self:  I think I did this last year too .... do NOT buy TWO scoops, even if it is only $5.00.  One scoop is about the size of a large coffee cup.  That's snickers on the top with rocky road on the bottom.  By the time I got to the rocky road, I was not only full to the brim, but I couldn't even taste it my mouth was so frozen.  I'm sorry to say I even threw away a little bit.  I've never done that in my LIFE!!  Next time ONE SCOOP!!!

My plan for today was to head to Oysterville and hit the beaches in search of those coyotes I found last year.  If I remember right, there was only one bear sighting.  THIS year there have been MANY sightings, including these two guys.  YIKES!!

Talk about someone I don't want to meet on the trail ... these guys would be it.  I'm thinking maybe I should wait until my return in mid August when they won't be quite so hungry.

In other news, this is what my hometown looks like from the Campus Parkway exit off Hwy 99.  There is a huge fire near Lake McClure that is burning West, North and South in the foothills, taking everything with it.  They are currently evacuating the towns of Mariposa (the fire is at the back of the fairgrounds) and Coulterville for those who know the area.  Almost 20,000 acres big thus far, it won't reach my house, but it has taken out many others.  Even with all the rain, California is on fire again.

Assuming my vacuum delivery arrives today, I have no plans other than to clean this dirty rig.  I'm about as good at that here as I am at home, but I'm going to give it a shot.  Want to come help????