California is on fire again.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Just thought I'd check in to make sure everyone one here was safe. Glad to hear, so far, everyone is well.

We were in a campground in Aquanga, CA, which is a teeny tiny town North of San Diego, about 15 miles East of Hwy 15. We arrived there yesterday (Monday) after being told there had been a fire across the street the day before, but it was 100% out and only burned 5 acres - so we decided to go.

This morning we woke up to hear a new fire had broken out near Palomar Mountain, which was just over the mountain from us. When I heard this, I looked out the window and saw nothing. Turned out we had some business to tend to in Indio, CA, so I called the front desk to see if I could leave the keys for the motorhome with them, so in case a fire started nearby and the park needed to be evacuated, someone could come in and get the cats. I was told "Oh sure, that's no problem. We'll make sure they're safe." I was thrilled and very grateful for such a warm response. I told them we'd have all important papers and such with us in the car, they would just need to get the cats.

We were getting ready to go and I happened to turn around....and to my complete surprise and horror, I saw smoke billowing over the mountain! (first picture) Terry was on his cell phone, so I snapped a few pics and a video. You could see the smoke cloud growing and changing shape by the second! I was horrified and told him there was no way I was leaving without the cats. If he wanted to go himself, I would stay and watch the cats and the motorhome. He wouldn't do that, so we talked to the front desk and they agreed to give us a credit and we left.

By the time we left, the wind had started taking the billowing smoke and spreading it out. (see second pic) As we started leaving, I was on the phone making sure no roads were closed in the direction we were headed. Fortunately, all roads were open. We had to take I-15 to I-215. I-15 was closed Southbound, but open Northbound - Whew!

The 3rd picture was taken when we were about 30 miles North, and the smoke is still a significant obstacle on the horizon.

We are now safe in Indio, CA, where the wind speed was about 3 mph when we arrived this afternoon. Can you imagine - three (3) mph! We couldn't believe things could be so dramatically different in such a short distance.

It's all so sad - so many people loosing so much property, and so much loss of wildlife.