ADVENTURES
My Beloved's Memorable Birthday
4:48 PM
My Beloved had been looking forward to going to Fort Bragg for months. We'd planned the get away for his birthday and it seemed every week he'd ask: 'is it this weekend?'
We left home on Sunday, packed up ourselves and our doggie, Maggie, who loves the beach. It's a solid 5 hour drive due west from our town on old Highway 20, made longer this time by the crazy north winds that blasted down the valley. We were tired but happy; hit the grocery store to pick up dinner and snacks and happily collapsed into the motel room. Turned the cell phones off and relaxed.
Woke up early Monday morning to find our cell phones blowing up with frantic text messages: 'are you alright???' We figured we'd slept through an earthquake or something. Turned on the laptop to find wild fires had broken out - and one was at home.
Specifically, at McCourtney and Orion. We live in McCourtney, and Orion is a stone's throw away. The very first text message on each our phones was the local sheriff, telling us to evacuate.
We gulped.
My Beloved is quicker thinking than I: he started calling friends. Our road was closed, the reports said, due to the fire. One of our younger friends, a brave young man, hopped on his motorcycle and headed over to see and let us know: did we still have a home?
While we waited, we took quick showers, walked the doggie. We packed back up, looking at our things, wondering if this was all we had left. It was a long 20 minutes.
Our young man then called, standing in the drive: yes, our house was still standing. The winds were blowing away from the house, and while several homes were burnt to the ground, ours was still there.
We headed home.
Entering the coastal hills, the sky was dark with smoke. The sun, still low in the morning sky, glowed a vibrant orange. The skyline of coastal mountains to the east glowed the same eerie, terrifying orange between the hilltops and the black smoky sky.
At the roadblock, we learned that the hills were on fire: Highway 20 was closed. We've got to get home, which way can we go? we asked the highway patrol.
They weren't sure: the cell towers had burnt and there was no internet connection to be had. They did warn not to try south though, as there were large fires there. Those wild north winds and summer dry conditions created an event - California was on fire all over.
Our only option was to go north 3-4 hours , cut over east another 4 hours or so, then south another 4 hours, then, hopefully, east to home.
North we went.
Driving north up 101 takes one through the redwoods, normally a lovely and relaxing drive, but our drive was anything but.
We spent a sleepless night in a moldy, extremely overpriced dump of a motel, and were grateful for it. A greasy delivery pizza for dinner, a quick breakfast in a questionably clean little diner on Tuesday morning and we were on our way to where we could catch Interstate 5 south.
Home.
Hoping we still had one.
Around noon we pulled onto our road: the first sight we saw was the local fairgrounds packed with firefighters' tents from all over.
The field across from the fairgrounds was burnt, and the houses, one by one down the road, were burnt to the ground. The fire must have moved fast, as the trees were still standing and alive.
And our home was still there. No power, but still there.
Taking deep breaths, we started unpacking, but were not home but minutes when sirens wailed and I stopped counting the firetrucks that raced down our road at 14. A truck pulled into our drive, telling us that they were evacuating the fairgrounds: a new fire had started on the other side of us and was moving fast.
At that point, friends started showing up on bikes and in pickup trucks. They helped load up the bikes in the shop into the trailer and into the back of pickup trucks: myself, I grabbed the photos of our children from our walls, the 'important papers' and tossed the yet unpacked suitcases into the back of the car.
Our nephew, who lives in 90 minutes away, drove up to help. He's a military staff sergeant and has seen way too much active duty in his young life. I have to say, seeing his open smile and being able to hug his strong shoulders made me feel a whole lot better.
Helicopters and the tanker plane flew over,
We stayed packed though. That evening, enjoying our battery powered lanterns, we shared a store bought sandwich and cake squares.
Happy birthday, honey, I said. We could only laugh, and feel extremely grateful.
Things are back to normal now for us, but not for all those who have lost everything. Our area had 4 majour wildfires within one week, several other northern California counties saw horrible fires.
I have given much thought about how we are so blessed, so lucky, so privileged to have such good friends, loving family and our home still.
God bless them all: the firefighters, law enforcement, our friends, our family.
And God bless hot water: the power came back on late Wednesday night: that lovely shower Thursday morning was just wonderful.
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