Lake Camanche, CA

[PapaBobby]

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Lake Camanche Monument RV Park, CA, with her sister and brother-in-law in their new 2016 Thor Plazzo (we have a 2007 Tiffin Open Road). We frequently camp there in the summer months and even camped there two years ago for Thanskgiving, which was nice. Surprisingly, the park was nearly 1/4 full back then. Well, completely different this time. As you are probably aware, California has been in a drought for the last several years. However, with all of the recent rains the drought in Northern California has officially been declared as over. This was evident at the rv park when we arrived. Our last visit there, about six months ago, found the nearest water about a quarter of a mile north from the launch ramp, which is about a quarter mile north of the rv sites we stayed in. This time the lake level was a 85 %. The site we stayed in were right across the road from the lake, facing west. On Friday night we had heavy rain and mild wind from the south, which hit the drivers side of our rigs broadside. But, on Saturday night things changed. Light rain and heavy wind, gust up to 30 mph pelted both rigs from dawn to morning. I was up at 2:30 am bringing all 3 slides in for fear of the slide toppers being ripped off. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law was not so lucky. The wind ripped the slide topper, mounting brackets and retract roller loose from his full length wall slide. He and his wife had to get on the roof, in the middle of the night, to cut the remaining attachments off, which had already slammed into and dented the satellite housing. A big hassle that could have been worst, but taught us a valuable lesson - when in doubt, sacrifice the space, not the toppers.

[biosensai]

Us California RV'ers don't get a chance to experience weather. After retiring, we spent our first winter along the Gulf Coast. Those slide-out awnings flapping in the winds worried me considerably. Research turned up a variety of local RV'ers solutions & suggested to me that it is a relatively common problem for them. Knew about tornadoes, but not straight line winds. Pulling into the awesome Gulf Shores SP in Alabama, we saw a brand new tent trailer with its top lying on the ground next to it. In Navarre, Florida, had a storm come in after midnight with winds so powerful we could feel our bedroom slide lifting. Not the coach, just the slide. Next winter we were at Durango RV Resort in Corning. Wind was really blowing. Talked to a mobile RV repair guy who said he knew of no one ever having a slide awning ripping in the wind. Shortly after, we were in the High Desert with predictions of high sustained winds & even higher gusts. That was the only time I brought the slides in.

[MTK46]

We were out in Quartzsite this past weekend. The winds were very strong Friday night. We were eating in our friends MH & his main slide topper was taking a beating. Luck his didn't fail. We were fine as our 5th wheel toyhauler doesn't have toppers.
Isn't it interesting that MH slide out have toppers but you will see very few on 5th wheel or TT slides.