Over the years we have known many people who were forced to evacuate an area and although we came close a couple of times when we were working at Timothy Lake we have always been lucky. Although a home on wheels can be a good thing during an evacuation it also takes time to pack everything up so when we got a knock on the door at 4am from the Sheriff telling us to evacuate our RV site in Lone Pine Lee sprang into action. I truly can’t say enough about how great my husband is in a crisis as he VERY gently woke me up and then packed everything up as quickly as he could. We were planning on leaving Saturday morning anyway but our pre prep was practically non existent and after three weeks at the park we were pretty spread out.

In particular it was tough to hitch the truck in the pitch black, but I held a flashlight for Lee and he made the connection. The park had numerous people in it for the weekend, but we were close to the last to leave and as we pulled out we could see the fire across the street and tons of emergency vehicles.

Yes the evacuation was for fire and although it was high in the hills of the Inyo Forest it was very windy that evening and the crews were concerned it might jump the highway. I learned later that folks who lived on that side of the highway were evacuated from their homes and I can’t say enough about the crews who worked the fire and highway safety. Initially we weren’t sure where to go, but they sent us to an empty parking lot in the local sports complex and we all lined up and waited to see what would happen.

At that point we looked for alternative ways out of the area, but learned that four tractor trailers were flipped over (due to high winds) on South 395 and that road was closed. We explored going north, but would be dealing with snow and it would add hours to our journey, so we decided to try and go across Death Valley despite our concerns about the steep grades on the road. That was not to be however because when we drove down to the road they had it blocked off and we were told we were too big and they would not let us through.

At this point we were stuck but thankfully we had solar power and water so we settled in to wait it out. No one ever came to tell us the roads were clear but around 8am we decided to drive down and saw the fires were better and the highway was open. We even got to see a helicopter with a water bucket making flights to the sight and saw a rainbow which led me to believe it maybe had rained in the mountains which might have helped some.

Thankfully it was still early enough that we could reach our next destination while the sun was up but it made for a long and stressful day. We were lucky though because no one was hurt and there was no damage to our home. It’s important to note that evacuations for flood, fire, tornado, or mudslides do happen and you should have an evacuation plan mentally prepared. Personally I grabbed our key documents, hard drives, and my work computer and put them in the car in case we had to leave the RV behind. Not sure how I had the presence of mind to do that, but I did and I believe it was because I had “gamed out” and evacuation in advance.

Finally for those of you who have been evacuated I would encourage you to tell that story in comments. I think it’s important that people have as much information as possible when putting together their plan.

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