Getting There

In a way, this trip would be a first for us. We would be traveling to Pomona alone where we would meet with others from our RV club. There were three other rigs that we knew of that would all be coming from different directions and some on different days.

Kay and I had the earliest entry day — a Saturday — so we took off for the Southland on Friday morning. Our plan was to get to FMCA Convention staging area to spend the night at The Fairplex — the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds — so we would be ready to go into the convention dry camping area first thing Saturday morning. This was the plan because I had already tried to make reservations at a nearby RV campground weeks before and was told that the campgrounds were already booked up.

The schedule was to get on the road around 8 o:clock Friday morning which would give us enough time — so I thought — to get to the staging area to dry camp for the night. I went through the usual steps to get our motorhome out on the street where I could hook-up the car to tow to the convention.

I mounted the towing hardware on the front of our car when I found that there was a safety clip missing. I looked through all the places where the clip might be until I decided to make a substitute clip. I finally was able to get a homemade clip fabricated; however, time was lost in the process.

Finally the car was connected to the tow-bar and now I made my usual safety-check walk-around. This is when I check the brake lights and turn signals on the car and make sure all safety features are in place and ready to go. As I walked around the car, the right-rear tire seemed to be ever so slightly low. I was about to brush it off and pump a little air into the tire and be on our way. However, for some reason, I decided I should jack the car up so I could spin the wheel to look at the tire.

I was so glad that I made that decision because about halfway around the tire I saw a small nail protruding from the tire tread. We were already almost two hours behind our schedule, so I decided that we would make our trip without taking our car. Now I had to undo everything that had to do with towing. By the time we finally got on the road, we had missed our planned time of departure by two hours. I was just glad that I hadn't taken off pulling our car with a nail in the tire.

The ride over to I-5 was routine and uneventful. The weather was lightly overcast as we left home, but the clouds became heavier by the time we arrived at I-5 and turned south. After a while we caught up with a rain squall that didn't last very long. All during the afternoon we traveled in and out of rain showers all the way to the grapevine.

Every time we travel on I-5 it seems as if more land has been converted to a vineyard or an orchard of some kind. One nice side effect of the damp weather was the absence of bugs hitting the windshield. The clouds hung low over the Grapevine which became fog as our motorhome climbed toward the top of the pass. At times the fog became dense enough that traffic slowed for a short time until the fog cleared up slightly. This added to the length of time it was taking to get to Pomona.

More fields next to I-5 have become vineyards and orchards

A couple of weeks before our departure, I called the various RV campgrounds near the Fairplex to reserve a campsite for Friday night. I found that all campgrounds were full which meant that we had to get to the convention holding area for the night. Unfortunately, we were already behind schedule, but I figured we could get to the holding area just before it closed for the night.

It was raining as we began to ascend the grapevine

The plan was to get over the Grapevine and enter the Los Angeles area in time to get ahead of the Friday commute time allowing us plenty of time to get to Pomona before the heavy traffic. Well, being behind schedule, we arrived right at the peak of the rush hour traffic. Now I was concerned about where we would spend the night.

I continued on into the crowded i-210 freeway seldom going faster than 35 MPH. There was one point where, not being familiar with the area, I didn't get over to the right lane early enough before it came to a complete stop. I slowed way down with my turn signal on hoping for a generous driver to let me into the lane. I had the CB radio on the trucker channel while I was trying to get over.

I was going so slow that traffic that wanted to continue straight ahead was backing up behind me. On the CB radio I heard a trucker telling another driver to not let the motorhome in. This was discouraging; however, I began to allow our motorhome to drift to the right. I could see a big-rig in my rear view mirror pull up tight behind the truck it was following. Our motorhome was moving slightly faster than the traffic on the right as our RV continued to slowly slide to the right.

I had one eye looking ahead and one eye on the side mirror. Suddenly I realized that there was a tunnel ahead and I had to get over or take the long way around. At the very last minute, a car backed off just in time for me to get over and enter the tunnel. I heard a trucker cussing about various vehicles that had squeezed into the lane. That was closer than I like and I still don't know how we made it without any bent metal. At this point the ride was slow, but no longer hectic.

I squeezed into traffic just in time to enter a tunnel

After another half hour or so, traffic began moving at a more reasonable speed. Even so, I now was very concerned as to where we would spend the night. I figured that worse case, I would pull into the entrance of the holding area and park for the night. As I was driving around the Fairplex toward the holding area gate, I saw a sign for the Fairplex KOA. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I pulled in at about 9PM — four hours behind my original planned arrival time.

I was pleasantly surprised that there was a campsite available even though this place was reserved full just two weeks before. Not only was there a place for our motorhome, but I saw at least six or seven other empty sites. It felt good to pull into a site and shut the engine off. I was very tired from a stressful drive through LA-La-Land.

When I went outside to connect the utilities, I was in for another surprise. When I lifted the electric service cover I saw what appeared to be the silhouette of an eight-legged critter. I stopped and went back to the motorhome to get a flashlight. The critter turned out to be a genuine black-widow spider. After a generous spray of bug killer, I completed the connection of the utilities without further incident.

An unfriendly critter waiting for me to reach for the power switch

It didn't take long to get inside and crash for a while and have a late evening meal. Fortunately, this campground is located directly across the street from the Fairplex. This meant that we would be able to get around at a leisurely pace the next morning.

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