Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

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Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

October 30, 2021, 02:33:14 am

Hello Fellow LD Owners,
Last Sunday, 10/24 my daughter and I were returning home from attending a baby shower in Santa Rosa, CA. There was rain and wind, but we were focused on a dead battery more than the weather and finally got on the road at about 10:00am after a jump. Our route was to head south in this torrential storm, first crossing the Richmond bridge, over to the Oakland area. We had googled traffic and saw an incident blocking a lane, but it wasn't backing up much at that point. As we entered the Richmond Bridge, heading east, the wind increased dramatically and the rain was torrential-blowing sideways. As traffic slowed to a stop, we realized that the wind was rocking us, even with a full tank and some water. We were in the left lane and it got very scary quickly. I believe we were only able to advance at 1 or 2 MPH and we didn't know the reason. On the bridge, there are bridge supports of 3 large iron verticles and then one single, and then none in a long space, at least the length of our RV. They repeat in this pattern. When we would be forced to stop with the traffic inching along, there were times when we would look over and there was nothing stopping us from blowing over into the high, turbulent waves below. The wind, reported later at upwards of 60-90 mph gusts drove water into all of our windows on the passenger side, I believe through the center sliders. After maybe 1/2 hour of inching along, we heard a banging on our passenger side, and realized that the forward awning leg was loose and banging back and forth in the wind. Another 1/2 hour passes and we see that the traffic in our lane is merging to the right. We see a travel trailer on it's side that has blown over. Our lane is closing down, with almost a half a lane to our left and Woosh- our awing opens all the way and our canvas rips and blows over to the drivers side, lodging to left of us, on the bridge, hurting no one! We pass the trailer and get the heck off that bridge as soon as we can! At our 1st exit, we pull of and have to extricate the frame of the awning so we can continue to travel. It took us 40 minutes, still in the torrential rain and wind, but we got it done! I know many of you have had stories of survival that I have read over the years and just wanted to say as scary as this was, we are thankful we didn't suffer more and will still keep traveling. PS. We need recommendations for push button awning replacement. Stay safe and stay well!

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #1 – October 30, 2021, 05:35:09 pm

"Our route was to head south in this torrential storm, first crossing the Richmond bridge,..."

Scary Crossing indeed! The Richmond Bridge has a very bad reputation for wind, it's always windy out there even on good days, crossing east or west matters not. I personally dislike that route and will go north by way of Black Point into Vallejo to avoid it. Transiting the R.B. on a good day you can actually see the bridge structure sway and move under your wheels. That's the last place I would intentionally drive the LD.

The path of wind is through the Golden Gate, San Francisco Bay, over around and through the Richmond Bridge into San Pablo Bay thence into the Delta above Port Chicago and Antioch. That's why you frequently have fog way up in the San Joaquin River Delta, it's a natural wind funnel. It actually drives the weather pattern for the mid part of the state and the Sierra Nevada. Google Adiabatic Cooling!

The Adiabatic Process: What It Is And How It Occurs

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #2 – October 30, 2021, 09:48:07 pm

Though not nearly as scary as the experience on the Richmond Bridge, we also had a scary experience with wind in October. On Monday, October 11 we came down out of the western Sierras from Calaveras Big Trees SP on SR4 heading to Monterey Bay. Unbeknownst to us, high winds were forecast that day for the San Joaquin Valley. Here is how the winds were later described in an article published by pbs.org (‘You can’t just hold your breath.’ Toxic smoke, fueled by wildfires, chokes...).

“A large dust storm visible from space swooshed through the Valley with winds of up to 40 miles per hour, leaving downed trees and small wildland fires in its wake, and lowering visibility to as low as a mile in some places.”

As we made our way through Stockton, we passed a passenger car and truck pulling a travel trailer that had collided, possibly because the awning had unfurled, whipping itself and some attached metal back and forth in the wind.

We first encountered the high winds at Copperopolis in the east valley. The wind stayed with us all the way to Monterey. In fact, so much sand was moved onto the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail in Sand City and Fort Ord Dunes SP that tractors spent the next two days clearing the trail.

The photo is from the PBS article linked to above.

Jim

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #3 – October 30, 2021, 09:54:53 pm

Good article Steve. It is pretty easy to see and FEEL examples of adiabatic heating and cooling as we travel the county in our rigs.

HD

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #4 – October 31, 2021, 01:41:18 pm

I've been across that bridge numerous times to visit family in Santa Rosa but never in the Lazy Daze. I haven't seen winds like that before but will use caution in the future!

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #5 – October 31, 2021, 08:08:52 pm

These stories highlight a key piece of advice: always check the weather for your route and your destination before setting out. I'm embarrassed to say that for many years I paid little attention to forecasts, until a sailor friend hammered into my head how important they are. These frightening high wind situations could probably have been avoided by checking the forecast in detail before taking off.

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #6 – October 31, 2021, 09:27:34 pm

A month ago, found a new hybrid weather/routing app called OnTheWay, which gives you the weather you should expect along your route. Won’t have a chance to try it for real on a trip until Thanksgiving, but seemed pretty useful on the sample routes I tried out, easier than estimating when I would be at each location, then looking up the weather, rinse and repeat along the entire route.

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #7 – November 01, 2021, 10:28:36 am

Quote from: Dave Katleman - October 31, 2021, 09:27:34 pm

A month ago, found a new hybrid weather/routing app called OnTheWay, which gives you the weather you should expect along your route.

Hi Dave,

I’m always looking for good apps that will help me with my travels. I went to Apple’s App Store and found the app you mentioned. It’s actually called Weather on the Way: Road Trip. The app looks very promising and I went ahead and downloaded the free version to try out. They give you the first 5 road trips with the PRO features before having to pay for them… $2.99/month or $49.99 lifetime. I’ll give it a try and hope it works as good as the reviews say. Thanks Dave!

- John

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #8 – November 01, 2021, 10:39:31 am

Hi Mamanova,

I’m sorry to hear about your terrifying experience and hope you can get back on the road soon. Thankfully no one was hurt.

- John

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #9 – November 04, 2021, 07:46:17 pm

Interesting to hear the wind stories. We can share: On Oct 11 we left Needles, CA bound for Bakersfield. We had checked the forecast and left early to try to avoid the projected high winds. As we continued, the wind got stronger and stronger. Three times, our 7 ton 27' LD actually jumped on the road from the wind, The sand was moving, the edges of the road began to blur, and we could no longer see the mountains. In Barstow, we got off the freeway and found a small campground outside of the city. When I called, I asked if they could give us a route which avoided the freeway and could park us somewhere behind a building or something so we would not be sandpapered by the blowing sands. Shady Grove RV park was great and tucked us into a funky space behind their office. By that time, you could see blue sky if you looked straight up, but could not see across the road, and near by mountains were just gone. Their flag pole was bending at a 45 degree angle! The next morning, blue sky returned, all was calm and we proceeded down the pass to Bakersfield having learned that a cozy port in a storm is much better than the roiling sea.

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #10 – November 04, 2021, 10:12:54 pm

"...so we would not be sandpapered by the blowing sands."

Ah yes, donchu just love the Mojave!

While I was with the Marines one of my assignments was at 29 Palms, an artillery training base. We had frequent sand storms out there. One of the Captains on Staff had a neat little two seated sports car he was in love with. He'd parked it in the lot by the Hq. building that morning and at noon time went out to see what the situation was. He didn't like what he saw. He turned the car around 180° and came back to work.

That weekend he took his precious car into town to his Insurance Co.'s office. The upshot was that he got a complete paint job which was covered by his insurance.

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #11 – November 06, 2021, 04:30:43 pm

We left Albuquerque early on the 10th with dreams of making it thru the Mohave before the winds were too high on the 11th. At Kingman, we opted to go thru Las Vegas and Death Valley as the forecast indicated weather hazardous for large trucks and small Counties. US395 between Kramer Junction and Inyokern isn't attractive in such conditions. Gave up in Pahrump NV, and missed 80 MPH gusts between there and Furnace Creek. Weather was much more benign the the next couple days.

Re: Scary Crossing of the Richmond Bridge (Warning for length)

Reply #12 – November 06, 2021, 08:07:02 pm

"US395 between Kramer Junction and Inyokern isn't attractive in such conditions."

That stretch isn't attractive in any conditions, Joel!

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