airport blogging is the best kind of blogging

Here I am in Reno, ready to board en route to Montana. This stage of the trip came from the plan of spending July 4 and a few days after at my colleague's cabin north of Reno. He built it himself 40 years ago - which is fantastic. Unfortunately, this has been a very dry season, and on July 5 we spotted this "cloud" over the ridge.


We went to investigate, and decided that it was far enough away not to worry for the time being.

Waking up on July 6, we were presented with a smoke-filled meadow and an eerie glow in the sky. The sun was a glowing orange ball and ash fell like a blizzard. Among the ash were charred fragments of tree, and below, this complete oak leaf, blistered and blackened and crisp.

We were evacuated that night, and in a panic closed up the cabin, grabbed my colleague's near&dear possessions, zipped down to Reno and had a restless night until I was delivered to the airport about an hour ago.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed for the fire to get under control and the cabins to be saved. Keep your eyes out for news on the fires at Antelope Lake in N. California.