Another Elephant in the Room

Let’s talk about another elephant in the room and get that over with. The Oregon forest fires. There are fires pretty much all around us. The 242 fire is in Chiloquin which is about 35 miles to the south-east of us; it is mostly contained on the populated side and is burning itself out on the forested side. The Medford fire is about 70 miles south-west of us and is still running its course, and luckily (for us) it is not headed our direction. The Mount Thielsen fire is about 70 miles due north for us. It has just recently been assigned a fire crew and has not been contained, but it is not expected to head our way. Many roads are closed that prevent free travel, but this is mostly done as protective measure. There have been several instances of people heading down those roads and running out of gas (as there are no stations before the fire mandatory road blocks), or breaking down. With no cell service in those areas and no vehicle traffic; that could lead to tragedy.

We have loaded the bike and kayak and all our little used miscellaneous things back into the garage, so we can leave quickly should the need arise. We have an exit plan. We are still working, as the Park is still open and there are a few die hard campers that have the park mostly to themselves.

The weather is clear and cooling. The winds have turned in our favor recently and with cooling temperatures, the dew is getting heavier. There is rain predicted for the coast this week, but it isn’t expected to get this far. However, the moist air will be helpful in slowing the fires. I have repeatedly mentioned the beautiful weather, and what that translates into is cool mornings and warm afternoons; and we have had no rain since June 26th. So we have beautiful weather, but also very dry conditions. And that dryness has led to favorable conditions for fires. All our current fires are man caused; with several being caused by careless campers and their campfires. This has led to a total ban of all open fires in the state of Oregon. Where our home is mobile; there are many people whose homes are at risk or have already been lost to these fires. Please pray for the safety of the fire crews and those families which have been affected by the fires.

The silver lining to all this is that the smoke, which has made for hazy days; has also given us some incredibly colorful sunrises and sunsets. We have had colors from orange, to salmon, to cantaloupe, and many other in between.

More about Bear Boxes

It has been brought to my attention that some of you don’t know what a bear box is. Well I didn’t either before I got here. They are intended to be storage devises for food stuffs. They are heavy gauge steel boxes that are welded together; and are then set in concrete. They come with a funky locking system, which is built to confound the most determined bear, squirrel, chipmunk or raccoon. They securely lock up your yummy smelling food items; as a tent wall is just an easy open wrapper for all those treats. And though we haven’t seen any bears in the campground (and they are in the area); we have seen many, many squirrels and chipmunks, and those are always looking for treats.

Our tent campers use them for just that purpose. Unfortunately when some are ready to leave, they decide that these are a great receptacle for their trash, or items that they no longer want/don’t want haul home.  And giving the benefit of a doubt; maybe some people just forget to check the bear boxes, for forgotten items. See my blog titled ‘Eating Local’ and ‘First Glimpses’.

Thanks checking in on our adventure. We are counting down the days until the Park closes and we begin roaming along to another location and more adventures.  We wish you all a safe and happy end of summer.