Orchard
By the end of August it was clear the 2020 California fire season was only going to get worse, so Jenya and I skipped town and headed up to the Portland area. Given covid concerns our best bet was to not stay in houses with friends or family, but instead on a nearby farm owned and operated by our friends Betsy and Annie. The farm mostly manages the boarding of horses, but also contains walnut and hazelnut orchards. They generously offered Jenya and I space under the walnut trees to pitch a large tent and set up some tables and whatnot. They also provided a mini fridge and hot plate to use in the sheltered but open air horse arena. This would be our home-away-from-home for as long as we wanted.
We ended up staying for a while, given that California was burning to the ground yet again. I felt bad for friends and workmates still in the Bay Area as my calm days blurred together while I took many deep lungfuls of clean, Oregon air. We played with our dog Gamma in the orchards, Jenya worked on art photography, we went on excursions with Annie (and her dog Cassie) into nearby stream-laden woods, we would have safe (outdoor, distanced) hangouts with Jenya's folks. Most nights we'd hang out on the deck inside the horse arena until quite late chatting with our hospitable and gracious hosts.
Given the inability to travel in general, this ended up being a wonderful break, and the only one we had, from being stuck inside in our boring house this entire awful year. However, after a week we started to think about the dismount. We had our lives (and comfortable bed) waiting for us back in Oakland, but we weren't super anxious to return as fires still raged all over California and the air quality still sucked.
During the early afternoon of day 10, shortly after sending a braggadocious picture of my bucolic accomodations to my colleagues, I couldn't help but notice the faintest smell of smoke coming in on the breeze. I looked at weather maps and noticed there were new fires raging in the eastern part of Washington. Due to the current wind patterns the resulting smoke poured into the Columbia Gorge and was coming our way. Maybe this is a sign we should leave.
We stuck to plans to go exploring again with Annie and our dogs. As we caravaned north we ended up at one park and I checked the various web sites and found distressing predictions worsening during the next few hours. As the sun set and the winds picked up we concluded it would be best if we turn back.
The weather got suddenly worse as google navigation took us over a mountain pass. Fog and smoke and heavy winds, branches from trees falling into the tortuous roads. This was actually getting kinda sketchy. The sudden nature of this change from sunny/clear/fresh air around noon to gusty/smoky hellscape before sun down was horrifying. Even worse was Annie was no longer behind us - she must have taken a different route, adding to our worry. All the traffic lights near the farm were out. Clearly the whole region was now without power.
By the time we returned to the farm at 7:30pm we panicked to pack up everything. No way we can camp there that night as the smoke was unsafe to breathe, and large branches have already fallen around our site. Much of the stuff from our table had blown over and onto the ground. Jenya had been in touch with her mom all day and we were more than welcome to crash at her place tonight (while doing our best to avoid contageous proximity). Thank god for that option.
The sky grew dark quickly as we both swiftly gathered everything. Gamma watched our frenzied activity from her crate. I threw things in the cargo top in no particular order. When the tent was emptied I hastily rolled it up and soon found myself covered in fucking earwigs. I flicked them off and Jenya helped search for others crawling on me. I did the last bits of packing in the dark as Jenya went up to the arena to deal with all our stuff in the fridge.
As we loaded out the last bits we discovered Betsy and Annie in the barn. We were happy to see Annie got back okay. They were scoping about for what had been affected by the power outage. No power meant no water because the well pumps were all off. Betsy fielded calls from nearby farms making arrangements to take in horses in case fires come sweeping through the area.
So this was how our long and lazy stay at the farm ended. A sad, weird, sudden, unsettling, and unceremonious goodbye.
As we pulled away Jenya dialed in navigation on her phone. We knew the way, but also guessed there may be unexpected road closures, and we were right. Our typical route was closed due to fallen trees. Jeez. As we left the countryside branches fell around us and leaves danced across the pavement. Scary drive, but we arrived in town slowly and surely.
We woke up to find some good news: during the night the crazy winds temporarily blew enough of the smoke away so the air was perfectly clear again for now. We repacked the car and prepped for a long drive, hoping to make it back to Oakland in one stretch tonight. We hit the road at 10:30am.
Making good time, the air blurred and the sky dimmed as we approached Salem. We were in the thick of what was a fresh, nearby fire. This was worse smoke than I've ever seen in the Bay Area - so bad I had to take pictures and immediately post them to Facebook. Yellow sky above, gray everything around us. As we drove toward the city the AQI (Air Quality Index) steeply rose. For those who aren't in a constant state of anxiety scanning these numbers, an AQI above 100 is when things start to get unhealthy. At 200 you have to stay inside and close your windows. The Bay Area generally never gets above 250 at the peak of fire season. But here we were, driving through Salem, with an AQI of 600. The sky turned Mordor red. What an amazing, scary, sad thing to behold. We, like everybody else on the highway, just kept driving.
As we got beyond that and the air cleared enough (down to a mere AQI of 300). Our rest stops to switch drivers and walk the dog were as fast as possible to minimize inhalation of toxic smoke. I noticed people responding to my earlier Facebook post with rumors that I-5 closed due to other new fires near Ashland. Friends who just moved there days earlier had texted me saying they had to evacuate their house. Jenya did research on her phone while I looked at the navigation on my phone and saw the ETA in Oakland increasing swiftly minute by minute.
Emergency signs on the highway confirmed there were detours north of Medford. It wasn't exactly clear what to do so we followed Waze since it was responding the fastest of all our navigation apps but also had the most hopeful arrival time back in Oakland (now showing 10pm).
Unfortunately big, slow trucks took the same detour. Eventually the path became clear - we were doglegging our way down some back roads to 140 and then cutting all the way over the pass to Klamath Falls - basically adding over 100 miles to our journey. Meanwhile we were seemingly straddling two smaller brush fires - nearby smoke rose into the sky to the left and to the right.
Finally on 140 we moved a bit faster, but also approached a mountain that recently caught fire - half the hillside was in flames and burning grasses/trees were distressingly close to the road as we passed. Beyond that the skies cleared and we crossed over the Cascades.
The remainder of the drive was somewhat standard as we worked our way back to I-5 near Weed and headed south to Oakland. We arrived around midnight, somewhat dizzy from all the driving and stress.
The next morning I came to while it was still dark outside. I thought I was experiencing the usual insomnia which wakes me at 4am, but I looked at my phone, shocked to see it was 7am. What the hell? Where am I?
There was an ocean of thick smoke high above the marine layer completely obscuring the sun. I looked out the window to see an alien world, everything gray with a red sky above, similar to Salem yesterday. Except the air quality wasn't bad down here near the ground, which was some relief I guess. However, it was raining ash all day.