Fire and Ice (California epic van trip, Post 8)

Despite dodging insane heat and smoke, we have been having a good vacation. I’m happy to be somewhere other than home. And it’s so good to see friends and family.

We originally intended to start by camping in the Six Rivers Wilderness, in the far northwest of California, and then go down to the Bay Area, and then home. But then we acquired an errand in Tucson – we didn’t want to buy a house without seeing it! Then we stayed in Southern California for a week waiting for the smoke to clear in the north, instead of our camping trip in Six Rivers. When the smoke improved, we headed up to the Bay Area.

When we arrived, it looked like this – classic California. (I was taking a picture of the palm tree, I didn’t think to take a picture of the fleeting blue sky!)

But conditions have been challenging! Here’s the gazebo where we have been sitting 6 feet apart in the searing heat and haze with our masks on to visit.

Check out that temperature – ouch!

Then by Tuesday afternoon it looked like this:

And if you’re thinking, aww, well, that’s just a sunset, think again. Here it is in the middle of the day at 11:30 AM yesterday.

It was vastly cooler, thankfully, but I was reminded of the concept of a nuclear winter. Here’s a picture of the sun at noon. See that little dot?

The scary thing is, the air quality was far worse toward the end of August, a couple of weeks before we got here. I can’t even imagine how bad it must have been.

Here’s Laura’s picture of the sun in the middle of the day in Santa Clara yesterday:

And here’s some more pictures sent by friends in San Francisco and Berkeley. These were all taken in middle of the day!

Meanwhile, as you might have experienced in your state, it has gotten suddenly cold. Another friend sent me these pictures from her garden in Santa Fe. The temperature plummeted from in the 90’s to freezing in 24 hours. Those poor plants!

Then we found out last night that ALL of the national forests in California are closing due to fire hazard. So much for our camping trip to Six Rivers!

We had another week planned in the Bay Area, but with our postponed camping trip now impossible, we’re starting to wonder about our “Plan B”. We’re not sure what the next few days will bring. Is it time to hit the road again?

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