Heading south through the fire areas

A picture of Mickey for Hildie!

Today is Thursday, August 16. Since leaving Eugene on Tuesday we have not done much except drive south on Highway 5 and 99. When we got to Grants Pass on Tuesday we started noticing the smoke smell and hazy sky. The sun was really red just before sunset. There were many signs on buildings and hanging from the overpasses thanking the firemen and first responders for their efforts in fighting the fires. We really saw very little evidence of burned land and trees. I think it was all to the west of where we were. I picked up a map of the Taylor Creek and the Klondike Fires.They were both started by lightning on July 15 - a month later they are still less than 50% contained. Between the two fires there were about 1500 people fighting it. Since 2002 there have been 4 other major fires in this area.

I was worried about going through Redding because that was also in the middle of the Ranch Fire a couple weeks ago. However, once we got south of Medford the sky cleared and we saw no more evidence of fire. We even saw a sign that Yosemite was now open, so thank heavens for our fire fighters. Although I know the fires are not over yet.

One of the nights I wanted to stay in a National Forest camp site (we have given up on State Parks). However, it turns out they have established a policy of only selling sites by reservation. You can pick one out, but you still have to have Internet access to go to the Web site, reserve the spot, and pay by credit card. We decided that was too complicated and went to a private campground instead! Tonight we are in another private campground in Fresno.

Looking forward to getting home