“I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end”
~ James Taylor
Soundtrack for a Sunday morning:
James Taylor – Fire And Rain (BBC In Concert, 11/16/1970)
“Fire” is the word of the week. We had a tiny bit of rain last week. A couple large drops, but not enough to wet the ground. Then the wind picked up. (That’s an understatement) with gusts up to 55 m.p.h. And with the extremely dry conditions, that was the catalyst for many forest fires near me.
I’m the little blue dot to the right of where it says Spring “Fir”. I managed to stay just outside the evacuation zone (green area.) It was a little scary. Growing up on the east coast, I know hurricanes. I spent many years in southern California, I know what to do in an earthquake. But forest fires? I was clueless. How fast do they move? How far from them do I need to be to stay safe? With 35 m.p.h. winds, how long before I should move? I have an app that keeps me up to date on nearby fires. I got a “SET” warning at one point. What does S.E.T mean? Turns out it’s part of the READY, SET, GO warning system. SET means have your vehicle packed with anything you value and be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The green area on the map above had a GO warning. I was just outside of it. I was packed and about to go and I started plotting a course to another spot only to find the road was closed due to another fire. I found an open road, but the travel app said that high vehicles (that’s my van) should use extreme caution and travel only if necessary. I had a friend from Skoolie camped down the road, and so we texted back and forth, comparing maps, warnings and notes, and we decided to stay. The closest fire was north of us by about 10 miles and the wind was from the south. I didn’t sleep well that night, constantly waking up and getting out of the van to look north to see if I could see any signs of fire. Nothing. By morning, the notices about that specific fire said, “Zero percent contained. Forward progress stopped.” That wasn’t very helpful. The skies were clear, the sun was shining and the wind was still howling. We stayed put.
By Monday, the winds died down and there was a cloud of smoke in the southern sky from the Pocket Fire, raging outside of Sedona just south of us. Still, our weather was perfect, and the constant alerts on my cell phone had stopped, so Cosmo and I took a long walk in the sunshine.
My site for the week was perfect. I was deep in the forest adjacent to a meadow. I parked so that I got sun on my solar panels from 5:15 a.m. to late afternoon, before it sunk behind the tall pine trees.
The temperatures were in the mid-70’s. I couldn’t ask for much more. Across from us was a clearing in the forest, and Cosmo and I enjoyed the shade and the view.
The white near the horizon is the smoke from the Sedona fire. Before this weekend, that same view included Mt. Humphrey, now obscured by smoke.
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This week marked 5 years living in the wild. I’ve lived in the van longer, but the first 6 months were in my back parking lot, “practicing” van life and seeing what I really needed to live in such a tiny place. I can’t help but think back on my first 6 months on the road. I was terrified much of the time. My main fear was “What if something bad happens and I need to get home?” Then I’d think “Buddy, you ARE home.” That was not a comforting thought. Now, everywhere I turn off the ignition is home. And when I look out my back window (my bedroom window or my office window, depending on what time of day it is), I think “buddy, you are HOME!” and I couldn’t feel more at peace.
The rest of the week was relatively quiet. Wednesday was chore day and I got gas, propane, potable water, groceries, picked up my new wi-fi hot spot from an Amazon locker, and stopped for a veggie burrito. All that and back to the forest before 2:00 p.m. While in town, I debated where to go for the coming week. Two Guns and Parks, AZ were about the same distance. Two Guns would be in the mid-90’s all week; Parks would be mid-70’s. But Two Guns would have very few if any overnight campers; My serene spot in Parks could get crowded with holiday campers. I chose Parks. It was mostly quiet all week, with very few other people around. I think the many fires deterred some of the campers. The distance from Flagstaff could also have been a factor. It was nice.
Lessons From The Road: With forest fires all around me, the air quality was unhealthy for a few days this week. Much to Cosmo’s chagrin, we did fewer, shorter walks outside. Inside, I fell down several rabbit holes on YouTube. The supreme Taliban decided (by a very narrow margin) to uphold the constitution and allow birthright citizenship to remain (for now). A military hero was arrested on the capitol steps for trying to uphold his oath to the constitution. An Olympian was arrested for touching the pond scum and peeling paint in the orange felon’s reflecting pool and two people promoting the power of love were hauled off by men promoting the love of power. Happy 4th of July. I realized I had to stop watching what makes me unhappy, and so I did some searching and found these two videos. I’m much happier now. There are good humans out there. We just have to look for them, and some days it’s harder than others to find them but they are there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDw2-qRkSJU
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L0ajS5mN_9I?si=l-UquWokQwedk8k8
That’s all I’ve got.
Love you like a dog.
See you down the road,