October 14-17, 2020 Fort Collins, Colorado

 We had the worse smoke day yet.

The smoke was so bad this am that it was in the hazardous zone. See the black spot on the map? That is Fort Collins air quality. The sun was red and it was dark and cold. People were driving with their headlights on.

Looking down our street. The visibility was horrible. I was wearing a particle mask and my eyes burned. The wind shifted a bit and we could see the northwest  edge of the smoke plume. 

The wind shifted a bit and we could see the north edge of the smoke plume. The motor home is at Houska's getting a part installed. We waited 4 months for the part to come in. The bus is 18 years old and they had to make the part. We can now pack up and leave. 

Here is the south east side of the smoke plume where we the bus is in storage. The plume is so big that this is all that will fit in the photo. The southwest view of the smoke plume as we head toward I-25 in Johnsons Corner. 

The Cameron Fire from I-25. Cool sun rays coming through the smoke on the east side of the highway. 

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The Cameron Fire from I-25.The smoke plume from the Cameron fire in Fort Collins. 

The trial gardens at CSU. I went to see them the last day before the hard freeze. Smoke at sunset.

Friday the fires raged. Fortunately the wind blew most of the smoke south today.  Sunset was lovely, a few real clouds with the smoke. My brother called me and said he could see the flames from the Cameron fire from his house in Longmont last night. The fire is 10-15 miles west of Fort Collins and coming closer. They say the fire won't make it to the city. There is a six mile long lake , many high rocky ridges between the fire and us. Hope they are right, but there are many small communities in it's path. The sunset Friday with some actual clouds and smoke. 

 

There are now 5 fires burning just west of us. There is a new one called the East Troublesome fire which is growing very fast. There are 60-70 mph winds driving the fires. My new lamp came on a slow boat from China and  came just in time to leave it here when we leave. It is a little big to store on the 

bus. 

The bus is a back at the repair shop. The radiator blew out when John going to drive it to the house so we could pack up and leave. Boo. But at least it did it where we could get it repaired. We were going to go west and the next place west is Grand Junction, nothing in between. And the radiator went out on the last bus and we spent a couple weeks parked in front of a repair bay outside of St Louis waiting for it to be rebuilt. Can't drive it with no radiator. So at least we are at our house instead of camped with the bus. We will leave when it is fixed. John and Mandy came over for dinner. Mandy made these two wonderful salads and brought champagne. 

Happy hour before dinner. John smoked a pork roast and a brisket.