Road Trip

We traveled by car down the I-84 from Portland Oregon to Boise Idaho. It is a familiar route that we take at least every other year in order to visit family.
This year was a little different.
Traveling down the highway next to the Columbia River is always awe inspiring. The gorge is magnificent with the water echoing the intense blue of the sky in summer months. This year the blue sky was replaced with a white haze from the smoldering fires that have been consuming the grass lands and forests of Washington and Oregon.
As we headed east one of the sights I look forward to is the first view of the wind turbines, like graceful ballerinas executing arabesques on the windy mountain tops. This year we could see the posts rising into the whiteness but the spinning arms were nearly invisible due to smoke.
As we turned south following the Interstate 84 toward La Grande the smoke from the Canyon Fire was billowing behind the hills. As we approached Baker City we could see the scorched and blackened acres where fire had so recently raced across the land. There were a few places where the fire had clearly jumped over the highway, leaving a black shadow behind. We saw what seemed to be a giant red and white helicopter with a water barrel hanging beneath it coming in for a landing at the Baker City airport before we turned with the highway heading east toward the state border.
The sunset was amazing, beautiful with its colorful rays shooting through the smoke but also terrible because its color reflected the terror of the fires that were consuming the land.
Nearly a million acres have been touched by fire in the northwest. First the Central Oregon fire and now the Central Washington fire have been declared top priority in the United States. The Governors of both states have pleaded for reinforcements for the firefighters diligently fighting to save homes and forests as well. There have been deaths - trained firefighters whose lives and careers have ended with these fires. New Zealand and Australian firefighters are on their way to assist and still more people are needed. The Governor of Washington has called for volunteers who can provide support. The Governor of Oregon has called up the National Guard. Today President Obama declared an emergency.
This has been the hottest year on record so far. The month of July surpassed the last hottest July in 1998 by 0.8 degrees. That is a very significant amount for weather watchers.
No camp fires can be lit in any campgrounds in Washington. The fire danger is too high.
Next week some of the family is going camping in western Washington. Maybe they think if they don't go now there might not be another chance.
The climate is changing. The rain and snow are shifting away from this part of the world.
I wonder if people are thinking about what has caused the change? Should they continue to deny what is happening?
Can we change before it is too late?

Smoke billowing behind the hills

Blackened grassland

Sunset through fire and smoke