Road Trip to Washington - Day 1

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Our deadlines of the summer were over. We finished (almost) our kitchen renovation. The house was clean (at least the part we had been working on). I had delivered sheep to the butcher and had people lined up for chores. I set up the pasture fences to make managing the ewes as easy as possible. I even made a barricade so that the ewes wouldn't be near the rams because I didn't want to risk the rams bashing the fence and each other. We packed as if we were going on safari. We hadn't been out of shorts and t-shirts for months and now we were going to the North where it is said to be Cold and Wet. Better grab another pair of pants, another sweatshirt, rain-pants. Oh, you're bringing two pillows? Then I'll bring two pillows...and a yoga mat and my sheepskin for under my sleeping bag.

We got away on Tuesday, September 11 at 10 a.m., only about an hour behind schedule. IMG_9620Here we go!DSC_3536All of these photos are "drive-by", taken with my camera or my phone while in a moving car. They are hazy and the sky is ugly. But that's how it looked as we drove up the valley. We have been living for most of the summer with smoke-filled skies. Now we were smelling smoke too. This is Shasta Lake and it is evident how low the water level is. A reservoir can be an ugly place when the water is low (in my opinion).DSC_3540 We began to see signs of the Carr Fire which had caused the closure of I-5 in both directions for 5 or 6 days just the week before we left.DSC_3534One of my son's manages a USFS helicopter and his crew was on this fire, but that wasn't the his helicopter. DSC_3541The fire had burned right up to the road and had actually burned vehicles that couldn't get away in time. DSC_3545IMG_9622

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IMG_9626 Trees that are near the highway are being removed for miles.IMG_9625And it's not over yet!DSC_3550There were active smokes along several miles. IMG_9630My two sons and a daughter-in-law all fight wildland forest fires. This is a scary year.DSC_3553As we drove further north the skies cleared and the forest again hugged the sides of the freeway.DSC_3554This isn't a great photo, but I am usually driving when I see this dragon.There is a metal cow and calf a few miles back that  missed. But I got at least one photo of the dragon.DSC_3556Heading to the Shasta Valley in northern California.IMG_9631Somewhere in Oregon. It seems like a long time since we've had rain here.

It was dusk as we got to our destination for the night in northern Oregon. More about that in the next post.