Road Trip -- Escape to Clearlake

By Cal Orey

FLEEING MOSQUITO WILDFIRE SMOKE

Home at South Lake Tahoe. Since the 9th I fled town due to the dangerous smoke from Mosquito Fire... ended up driving on a winding road with worse smoke (probably 800+) making its way into the vehicle. So surreal and scary--smoke, trees, smoke. I was concerned about my Siamese (dealing with car sickness), Aussie sensed we were in harm's way, sibling (in stay stoic mode)...

I even put on a mask to cope with the thick fog-like smoke surrounding us. Called a friend to stay grounded. "Will we be okay?" and "I'm really scared. This is bad." Car lights were on and there was no turning back. Nowhere to go. It was like we were zapped to a Twilight Zone place.

DESTINATION: CLEARLAKE NOT YOSEMITE

We headed to Clearlake where the air quality was fair and temp 107--tell it to an Australian Shepherd with a double coat. Separate suites of the lake like some of Tahoe's waterways were suffering from toxic algae bloom, too, from the heat wave. But the air was doable not hazardous like at Lake Tahoe. I sensed on the 9th it would get worse. It did.

EARTHQUAKE ALERT! DROP, COVER, HOLD ON!

Then, the quake alert on my cell -- you all know about that but I didn't tell you I was at
Clearlake on a fourth floor. Never heard it before but talked about it on C2CAM -- scary! No idea of what mag/or where...

THUNDER! LIGHTNING! POWER OUTAGE...

Next up? A fluke intense /lightning storm with a power outage. Then, heavy rain in NorCal! Weather forecasts of flash flood warnings to mudslides for the sierra back roads greeted me. Still getting over the dangerous air event on the winding road.

ROAD TRIP, NATURE'S WILD RIDE

So, would I evacuate again due to bad air from wildfires? Probably. Yosemite is the next choice if it's not burning with its sequoias like earlier in the past summer. But leaving does have new challenges. I'm whooped. Thanks to a brave young woman -- my fish, tree garden, and home is happy and healthy. *I turned on one of the air purifiers? ASH greeted me as a reminder of why I left. I changed the filter.

I must add while it's extra work taking the fur kids both were strong boys and did well -- better than last summer during the Caldor Fire...Seeing the burned areas of all the trees was heartbreaking. But coming home after this adventure? Gratitude for my oasis. Survived. Not so sure I'm keeping my booked flight to AK. The lightning storm was as good as the northern lights. Enough adventure for a while. Time for a cup of tea in my environment.