Capay, California

We arrived at Capay Open Space Park on September 15, 2011, and I knew as soon as we pulled our trailer into the windswept, desolate surroundings, there was no way on Earth I could stay here for two weeks, never mind twelve long months. Having just spent several days on the lush and green Oregon coast, followed by a visit to the mystic California Redwoods, Capay Valley seemed sere, brown, uninviting, and definitely no place I wanted to call home. Coming on the heels of a seven month whirlwind tour of the east coast, exhausted and road weary, my initial disappointment was immediate and overwhelming.

It didn't help that I was still fuming over the mix up in plans that landed us here in the first place. We thought we were coming to this area to be the Camp Hosts at Grasslands Regional Park in Dixon, a repeat of our work assignment for Yolo County in 2008-2009. We had planned the year ahead in great detail based on this belief, and at the midnight hour, we were informed that due to a colossal communications gaffe, that position was no longer available to us. Put upon by our dilemma, yet wanting to make things right, Yolo County employees scrambled to offer us an alternate camp hosting position at Capay Open Space Park, which I immediately coined "The Consolation Prize".

We weren't totally unfamiliar with Capay, having been given a tour of all the parks in Yolo County during our earlier stint as park hosts. We had been shown around several of the parks in the event we would be interested in hosting other sites in the future. I specifically remember visiting Capay Open Space Park that day in 2008, and saying to Dan afterwards, "No way would I ever consider staying out here! What a hell hole!" (What is that expression about famous last words?)

So winding up here in 2011, with no alternative plans in place (never for a moment considering the possibility we wouldn't be staying at Grasslands), we agreed to give Capay a two week trial run. At the end of two weeks, if we both agreed it wasn't a good fit, we would pack it up and move on. Definitely one of the advantages of living and traveling full time in a 5th wheel trailer is the ability to move along rather quickly if you end up unhappy in your current surroundings.

Things did not proceed smoothly on the afternoon of Day 1. After several failed attempts and some very skilled maneuvering, Dan finally succeeded in getting the 5th wheel backed into the convoluted space designated for the camp host, and we figured the hard part was over. No matter the trailer barely fit crossways on the pad; no matter a wooden fence running the length of the space was so close to us we almost had to walk sideways after stepping out the front door. And did we really need to have our awning out? A mute question, really, what with that fence making it all but impossible to bring the awning all the way down. None of that really mattered though; the real problem was we had no electricity.

At this point I was done, I'd had it, and I wanted to leave. What were we doing here, anyway, I wondered? I wanted to go park in a Walmart overnight and figure out what to do the next day. It's a good thing it wasn't just me trying to figure things out. Calmer heads prevailed; Dan got us hooked up to our generator, put a call in to the maintenance manager, and bought us a case of water. (I wasn't about to drink the water from this Godforsaken place!) I relaxed a little.

After this rough start, and with a few days of getting settled in under our belts, our new surroundings began to feel more comfortable, and after the two week trial period, I could even start to imagine Capay Open Space Park as home for the duration of our stay. After all, don't we drive around with a sticker on our 5th wheel that says "Home Is Where You Park It"? Still, I much prefer "home" to be greener. There is something so displeasing about the dry, brown look of central California in late summer.

But as the weeks ticked by, no one was more surprised than me when I began to notice the hidden beauty and secret delights in our surroundings, a variety of unexpected animal visitors, and an entire ecosystem to explore, none of which were obvious at first glance. Over time, I developed a much deeper appreciation for the subtleties nestled among the California oak and scrub landscape that surrounded us.

Capay Open Space Park is located in the town of Capay, in Yolo County, 17 miles west of Woodland, and 40 miles west of Sacramento. Set along the Cache Creek, and surrounded by orchards, farmland, and rolling hills, there are times during the year where the barrenness fades away, replaced by blossoms, green fields, a variety of farm crops, and full-leafed trees. Instead of a year, we ended up staying just nine months, long enough to experience the changing of the seasons through the fall, winter, and spring. I'm so glad that we didn't leave right away. I would have missed so much!

In this post, I am including pictures of how Capay Open Space Park looked when we first arrived in September 2011. Later I will include a post of Capay in the Spring, when everything greens up. In between I will add a few entries on our activities between September when we arrived, and May 2012, when we leave.