Fire

Dollar Lake Fire

Saturday morning I was sitting outside enjoying my coffee and the sunshine when suddenly the day light took on a golden hue.  At first I thought it was the sun reflecting off a nearby vehicle but I soon realized it was a huge cloud of smoke that was billowing in off the mountain.  The air became thick with smoke and the mountain ridges that surround the Hood became increasing harder to view.  As the day and evening wore on my eyes started to burn and there was a thick smell of smoke.

During the day campers started to show up that had been evacuated further up the mountain and I was starting to get a bit concerned with every new piece of information.  My main concern was the thought of evacuating 300 RV sites with only one road leading down the mountain.  A fellow workamper came to give me a heads-up to be prepared as the fire was spreading.  Add to this the non-stop phone calls and inquiries from the campers in the park as to updates on the fire and you have a fairly hectic day.  Matters got even worse as the heat and fire added fuel to an already exhausted staff and one woman's anger came blasting out at me.  It was the first time in my two summers at the Hood that I felt so unsafe that I locked my door before going to sleep.

The heat continued on into Sunday but the smoke was starting to lessen.  By now I was weary of the angry woman's drama and wanted to leave what now felt like an inferno of fire, heat and emotions.  As she stomped and shrilled and pouted, my last and only words to her were a joyful "Yee-haw!".  No sense in adding any more fuel to her fire.

I finished work at 2:00 PM, packed everything up and said some tearful good-byes.  By 3:30 PM I was on the road and back in Eugene by 6:30 PM, back at the Deerwood RV Park and back enjoying Maria's company who is parked across from me.

It feels so good to be back.