The Ugly

Relocating to Shingletown, California 1992

Travel Trailer: A Near Miss

After I got laid-off from a high-tech company my wife and I decided to move up to our Shingletown mountain property located in Northern California.  My intent was to start a success motivation business headquartered in Redding, California.  I had recently joined a well-known company, as an independent contractor, and received their training in Phoenix, Arizona.  Since we did not have a house on the property, we decided to move our 34-foot trailer to a nearby mobile home park.

Since I had never pulled the trailer even on a flat road a truck driver friend offered to pull our pick-up truck and trailer over the Santa Cruz Mountains and down to the freeway.

Then he waved goodbye.  Unfortunately for us there was more down hills to conquer on Highway 17, which is also known as blood alley.  I slid behind the steering wheel and released the emergency brake and we were on my way.  My wife was following in our family car and we intended to communicate by CB radio.  After a short distances the trailer began to weave and the harder I tried to straighten the trailer the more it weaved and cut across the highway lanes.  In my rear view window, I could see the traffic backing up to avoid my impeding collision.  The right side of the trailer hit the guardrail and we continued to weave.  I frantically pumped the brakes faster, which activated the special brake controlled box we purchased for this trip.  Finally I brought the truck and trailer under control. I think I aged ten years.  Later we examined the trailer and found that one of the awnings extender arms had a slight scratch where it hit the guardrail.   Lucky!

This is something I couldn’t do at the time because we were living in it.  Our trailer salesman delivered the trailer to us, in 1986, and placed it at the trailer park’s site, so I never drove the truck and trailer until that first time in 1992. 

Trip continued below.

Continuation of the Above Trip

The Bad

Red Bluff, California   1992 

Murder and Rape Thwarted

It was a hot day, I was wearing down from towing our 34-foot travel trailer and my wife was following in the family car.  I called my wife on her CB radio that I was pulling into the Red Bluff, CA rest stop north on I-5 for the night.  I proceeded to pull into the rest stop and I parked as close to the rest rooms for security reasons.  My wife parked the car along the right side.  We had dinner and retired exhausted for the night.  The next morning we had breakfast and I went to the rest room.  A long haul trailer rig, its diesel engine idling, was parked next to us with its dozing driver.  As I was heading back to the trailer I noticed a shabby dressed man taking quick glances at me.  His dark hair was uncombed and he wore a blue hooded sweatshirt.  Something else caught my eye.  The guy had pieces of straw on his sweatshirt, which indicated to me he was sleeping on straw.  A vagrant I thought.  These were not good signs.  I gave my wife a warning about this character.  We needed to get back on the road soon.  A few of the trailer’s awnings had come loose, so my wife got on a step stool to cinch them down.  I was doing another chore when this vagrant guy approached me.  He asked to borrow a wrench to make an adjustment to his trailer’s hitch.  He pointed to this old grey van pulling a load of firewood.  His loaded trailer appeared to sag behind the van.  I noticed that his van was parked at the border of the rest stop next to an open field with tall grass.   I explained to him that I did not have the large wrench that he needed.  I said that I briefly borrowed my neighbors before we embarked on the trip.  Then he said something very odd.   “Oh look,” he said laughing and pointing to his trailer, “Its just parked in a deep hole!”  He appeared friendly and offered to help my wife tie up the awnings.  Clearly this guy did not want to leave us.  As we were talking I causally keep looking behind him at his van.  Then I saw it!  In back of the van, a man’s bare feet and legs dropped down and disappeared behind the rear wheel.  I could tell he was crouching as he tiptoed.  My pulse rate shot up, “An ambush!” I thought.  I said she was almost finished and we were leaving within the next few minutes.  Finally, he decided to give up on the friendship ploy.  He started to walk away and continue to talk to me.  At the same time, I turned side ways to put something in the car’s trunk.  Then he saw it.  He started to stutter and stammer as he talked.  It was my Buck knife under my shirt with the sheath open.  I had lifted my shirt up and over the knife when he first approached me.  He was standing on my left side and never saw the knife on my right side.  He was stuttered and stammered and was very shook up because I showed no fear.  A lot of people cannot pull the trigger even to defend themselves, but I am not one of them.  Using a knife close up, to defend yourself takes even more nerve.  For some psychological reason most criminals are more frighten of a knife than a gun.  I told my wife to hurry that we were in danger and within a couple of minutes we were back on the road.

There is no doubt in my mind that these guys were going to rape my wife and kill us. They certainly acted like violent people who would want our travel trailer, truck and car.

When camping or hiking I carry a folding Buck knife on my belt with my T-shirt pulled over it.  This is carrying a concealed weapon and illegal, but it is a wilderness area.  My intention is not to hide a weapon, but I like to wear my T-shirt on the outside because it is comfortable and cooler. California it is legal to have a firearm in your house for protection, which includes a travel trailer or tent.  In the trailer, I carry a small semi-automatic Walther’s .380 PPK/s favored by the James Bond character in the novels and movies.  I worry about hi-jacketing. 

The Bad

Yuba City, California

Murder in a Campground

Several years back, there was a manic running loose in Yuba City, California.  He killed a woman with a machete as she played cards in a tent.  Then he chased after other campers and injured a few more people.  One of the campers took a shot at him, but missed.  During this time, we had a family camping trip scheduled for Yosemite Valley.  Yosemite reservations are difficult come by, so we held to our plans.  Because we left home late Friday, I had decided to layover, for the night, in a primitive campground South West of Yosemite.  You can imagine that both my wife and I were really jumpy.  I parked our station wagon along side a small river and camped there for the night.  I made sure we camped near other people.  We planned not to pitch our large tent it was way too much trouble.  My wife and our two youngest kids slept in the station wagon.  My oldest son and I were to sleep on the ground.  I set up an intrusion alarm system with a couple of ropes surrounding our sleeping bags with pots and pans tied to the rope.  If the killer stumbled into our alarm we were ready for him.  I was armed with a small hatchet.  And that night I didn’t get much sleep.  Years later I laugh about this trip and how naïve I was to think a small hatch would protect us.  Weeks later they caught the killer trying to escape across the border from Texas into Mexico. 

The Bad

California Campground

Motor Home Hi-jacketing Thwarted

One of my co-workers lived full time in a motor home and he and his wife enjoyed this life style.  He usually stayed in our company’s parking lot.  He told the story of a thief in a wilderness campground that had tried to hi-jacket his trailer.  But he was armed and drove the attacker off.  In California it is legal to have a firearm in your place of abode for protection, which includes a home, motor home, travel trailer, tent, etc.