California’s Butte Fire Photos…

The motorhome is parked at Mary’s home in Murphys, California.

I’m planning to  depart November 30th. While here, I’ll do routine maintenance, minor repairs and major cleaning of the Bronco and motorhome.

Today’s subject: California’s Butte Fire…

Recently in California, there  were two large fires. The Butte Fire came within about 14 miles of Mary’s home. Starting September 9th, it was finally contained on October 1st. It scorched 110 square miles destroying 475 residences, 343 outbuildings and 45 other structures.

You can read about the fire by clicking this link…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_Fire

 

Yesterday Mary and I drove east from San Andreas several miles on the Mountain Ranch Road, gaining elevation, it is a very narrow and winding road. It was difficult to take photos because there are few places to pull over and locals drive far too fast on that road. We saw many crews restoring power lines.

During that time, Mary became very emotional remembering when at the age of seven, her home burnt to the ground. What we saw was a very tiny portion affected by the fire.

Here are some of the photos that I took…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

(Note: Other photos published on this original posting have been removed at the property owner’s request.)

 

This is the remains of once was an about 26 foot Class C Motorhome…

 

 

Some of the folks are living in tents for the time being. Colder weather is not that far away…

 

 

A sign of life…

 

 

To see the other 41 photos in this album…

CLICK ON THE BELOW PHOTO. ONCE YOU ARRIVE AT THE PHOTO ALBUM, SIMPLY CLICK “SLIDESHOW” AND ENJOY!

 

 

 

California’s Butte Fire

 

Like I said earlier, we saw only a tiny portion. It’s just hard to imagine the scope of such a disaster. Yet, life must go on. Only two fatalities are attributed to this fire.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

 Yesterday was a mostly sunny and 76 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy/sunny and 83 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2015

BLM LAND AND A DANCE BAND

 

We left Horst and Margot yesterday, but not before Horst regaled us with more tales of a most interesting life while living in Russia and the difficulty of mastering the language. He gave me a copy of his book in manuscript form and they loaded us down with oranges, tangerines, lemons and grapefruits from their yard.

He adores Margot and insisted on showing us a velvet shirt she had made him and his white sweater that she knitted for him thirty years ago.
Then we headed a short distance across town to a small 5 acre section of BLM land, next to the highway outside of Yuma, that is highly popular with RVers. Jim’s former singles group, the WINS park here every year for their communal Christmas and New Years. Some WINS belong to the Escapees singles group as well and when we pulled into this popular free camping place, there were about ten WINS and a couple Escapees among the hundred or more rigs camped here. They limit people to 14 days, as do national and state camp grounds. There are no hook-ups here.

We decided to walk the perimeter of the 5 acre plot (sans camera)  and then we stopped at the VFW which sits next to this spot for a couple of drinks. They have live music 5 nights per week, just one reason this place is so popular with RVers.  A lively band called Dakota was playing good swing, western, and polka music and the dance floor was loaded. They also serve dinner here and as it neared dinner time, the dancers lined up for dinner.

I talked to the couple sitting next to us and discovered she had a daughter that lives in San Andreas, 16 miles from my home in Murphys. Her significant other lived in Mountain Ranch for ten years before his wife died. He, a native of Bodett, Minnesota and she a native of Yuma.

Across from us, a couple, she from Embarrass, Minnesota and he from Alaska. I have two nephews who live in Alaska and have visited that marvelous state. It never ceases to amaze me when meeting people on the road, the connections you share.

We had a rockin’ good time and most likely will pass this way again some time.

THE NOTION OF A CLUB.

Calaveras County is unique in that it has but one city, Angels Camp. Even the County Seat at San Andreas is not a chartered city. Local communities here, Mountain Ranch, West Point, Murphys and so on, are run by “clubs.” The Murphys Community Club held their Christmas Party and Dance along with the installation of new officers last night. President Houston handed over the reins to incoming President Creagher and it was he who pointed out the notion of a club.
People think of club’s as a social, fun group rather than the hardworking institution formed 69 years ago to replace the governmental functions that an organized city would perform, he explained.
This group of fantastic volunteers fundraises to pay for lighting Main St. maintaining our park, providing recreation, building and maintaining restrooms, garbage removal, and most of the other functions of government.

So, it was that Supervisor Tom Tryon installed new officers and joined the festivities.

Outgoing President Houston handed out an award for service to Bob Reagan.

Friends met, mingled and celebrated before dinner.

There was a grinch or two about the place. But, despite all the work, the Community Club is still about FUN.