Love & Fire

Left Ben & Jeni's home this morning and headed north on I-5, expecting another very boring day. But, Ben gave me an idea to try something a little different and rerouted my drive today. I was pretty excited. So off they sent me with a wonderful sign and lots of love!

Christina & Ben

Ben, Jeni & Annie

Christina and Tahoe John
When I got up this morning there was a box of donuts on the table. John heard me mention last night how much I love French crueler donuts, so he got up and went and bought some this morning! What a sweetie!!!

On the road again!

 

Castle Crags

 

About an hour north of Sacramento I was feeling good and rarin' to go, until I saw a flashing road sign that said "I-5 North closed in 25 miles due to wildfire." Now what?? Drove on for a little bit and decided to pull into a gas station in a little town and top off the gas tank in case I got stuck in a really long detour. The guys at the gas station were great. I bought a real live paper map - oh, how I have missed reading a real map!!! - and we looked at my alternatives. Filled up the car, bought a huge bottle of cold water and some snacks and headed out not quite sure of what lay ahead.

 

 

A couple of miles up the road I was relieved to read another flashing sign that said "I-5 North open - expect delays - slow down." Awesome! I wouldn't have to take the route that had me spending an additional 2 hours on the road. As I got closer to the place where the freeway had been closed, I could see and smell the smoke.

 

 

As I drove by I could see why the freeway had been shut down. The fire was right on the side of the freeway and had even jumped over to an off-ramp. It appeared that it had just been contained as there were firefighters still on sight with their hoses.

 

Mt. Shasta

I've only seen this mountain with snow on it. I was shocked to see it so "naked."

Shasta Lake is very, very low. I saw only one houseboat moving on the lake.

 

I got off of I-5 in Weed, CA., and took off over the Siskiyou Mountains on Highway 97. It was really hot outside - thank goodness for air conditioning. I finished listening to Inferno on audio book and started listening to another - Where Did Bernadette Go? Just north of another little town (Chemult?) I turned onto Highway 58 to head back west towards Eugene and I-5. Highway 58 is a beautiful drive! But at one point I got a little worried - when I saw this . . .

 

I knew right away that those were not regular clouds. Those were fire clouds. A massive wildfire just over that hill. I had no idea where the road I was on was taking me - away from it or towards it. But I seriously freaked out when suddenly a helicopter was hovering right over my car as it was positioning itself to dip it's large tarpaulin bucket into the river for some water. Then I drove through smoke.

 

 

It was all quite surreal. But the highway veered away from the smoke and before I knew it, it was all behind me. There was another area of highway further south that I had driven through earlier in the day that had charred trees and grass for miles and miles. Northern California and Southern Oregon must have taken quite some wildfire hits this season.

 

 

Once I was past this fire area, and drove deeper into the Willamette Forest, I was loving the green density all around me. I felt like I was truly driving back into the lush Pacific Northwest.