Vacation plans – going up in smoke? (California epic van trip, post 1)

The plan was to go camping in California this coming week for my birthday (after a brief but necessary stop in Tucson, more about that later). Following the camping trip, we were going to spend some time in the eastern edge of the California Bay Area. John can work there, because his company has a branch there, and it’s fairly close to Laura and good friends of mine.

We’ve rented a cute little Airbnb in Livermore. It’s a stand-alone guesthouse so we feel fairly safe from COVID risk (stand-alone and thus having its own airflow). It also has a covered outdoor seating space for visiting Bay Area friends and relatives.

But look at the smoke in California!

The smoke covers the entire western US (except Seattle), including the coastline, from Mexico to Canada and all the way to the Great Lakes.

We are all having migraines, Laura, Darren, and I, but Laura is closest to an active fire and has it worst. The air quality numbers where she is near San Jose are abysmal. Because she lives right next to one of the larger fires, the SCU Lightning Complex, the smoke is hanging low in the air. For us, the smoke is higher in the air and not impacting our breathing as much.

The red outline is the The SCU Lightning Complex fire boundaries as of Sunday morning. John and I plan to stay in Livermore, just north of the fire, and Laura lives near San Jose, just west of the fire.

I’m thinking we may need to reconsider our plans to go camping this coming week, but darned if I’m going to miss my trip to the Bay Area the following week! I haven’t seen Laura since Christmas! It seems like a lifetime ago – before COVID, before cancer, before the word “apocalypse” started seeming relevant to real life.

John and I are talking about going up to the far northern edge of the California coast, near the Oregon border to go camping.

But that is a heck of a long way from Albuquerque (especially via Tucson). And with just a slight shift in wind, that area could be inundated with smoke too (see where it says Rogue River and Siskiyou and Six Rivers, nearish to the ocean on the edge of the smoke lines).

Not to mention two or three days of smoke-filled driving from Albuquerque (via Tucson). It’s starting to sound less like a vacation and more of a miserable idea.

Our vacation plans are up in the air – and it’s smoky up there. Plan B anyone?

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