Another Northern(or other part) California tale/trip

[campfire]

So many have predicted that the #caldorfire would prompt the evacuation of South Lake Tahoe, well it's happening now. And it's a mess.

screen shot taken from the Caltrans traffic camera at the intersection of Hwy 50 & Hwy 89 looking east.

Hwy50 east.jpg

https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/articl ... 423258.php

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2021/08 ... august-30/

[MrKiwi]

[Camp Director]

+1

[MrKiwi]

A little side track from California. We have had a wet winter here, and various bits of the country has been suffering from floods.

Last night a area where two of my sisters and my 92 year old mum (who lives with my younger sister) got flooded. My elder sister's house is on tall piles so they are good, except their utility sheds got flooded as well as their garage.

My younger sister's house on on a concrete slab, slightly raised, and had ankle deep water right throughout the house, a real mess. Mum is a stubborn mule and and won't leave the house. My elder sister took her to her place this morning and dried her out, but now she is back home and won't leave again!

I'm 650km south of them, we are in a stay at home lockdown so I can't go up and help. Fortunately, my sisters and families are permitted to ignore the lockdown to make the homes safe and sanitary. All the carpets and wall linings will need to be replaced in my younger sisters house.

top of the circle is where they live


So you have fires and we have floods.

[campfire]

More Tahoe stuff.
Evacuations have made South Lake Tahoe scarce of humans... so guess who's checking out the area?

Heavenly Bear.jpg

Screen shot from the news video taken at Heavenly Village shopping area with a gondola to the top of Heavenly Ski Resort.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/ ... ake-tahoe/

[MrKiwi]

That is some scary shit...

[campfire]

After the first day of fall arrived, the weather heated up again.

Had to go check out my favorite old haunt, the Berryessa/Knoxville Road. the long way of course.

Drought has taken it's toll on the lake this year, and the fires last year didn't help at all up there.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNU_Light ... plex_fires



Made my way up the valley in the warm weather, and made my usual stop at my favorite country store for a drink and snack.



Then on up to the narrow part of the road and I spotted something I've missed all these years.



Or I just can't remember seeing this old stone bridge.



Road has gotten pretty bad from all of the fire engines up there last year.



But a great day and a great ride again here in Northern California.



And while I was heading out to the sticks, and a certain chunk of BLM property that has a wide open area with concrete tables & a 50 yard range....

I took some fun along.

KLR Artillery.JPG

I dumped the bike turning around in some rocks and gravel, had to take the tail bag off before I could pick it up for some reason.

[diogenes009]

[MrKiwi]

Awesome

[LadyDraco]

[campfire]

Last evening.

[Camp Director]

Nice picture. Two thumbs up.

[campfire]

Northern California has been in another drought cycle and it's really bad again this year. On top of COVID, shut downs, quarantines, and everything else, we stated water rationing months ago.
We've had rain in the Pacific Northwest, even Southern California. Shoot, Arizona has had more rain than us with some flooding down there.
Well it finally started here!!!!

Arizona buddy asked me where we were with averages, looked them up and we were at 37% of normal rain fall last week.
We've had just over an inch in the hills to the west of us!

More in the forecast this weekend.

https://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/precipMaps.p ... synoptic=0

Might go for a ride in the rain just because I can. And I'll enjoy it.

[MrKiwi]

that sounds good...

[campfire]

More rain!!!!!

BIG storm is supposed to hit tomorrow. They say up to 5 inches of rain.

[Camp Director]

I'm sure you need it but just wish it would fall slowly over a longer period.

[campfire]

QWIK update from storm central...

3.19 inches of rain in the last 24 hours here in the city limits, 5.28 inches in the western hills two miles from us.
And of course flash flood warnings are out.

[MrKiwi]

How wide spread is it, and are there still fires that the rain is now putting to an end?

[campfire]

How wide spread is it, and are there still fires that the rain is now putting to an end?

This storm is covering most of northern California, and most of the fires were at 100% containment 2-3 weeks ago.
With this storm, they are OUT now. But, the burn scar areas are now prone to mud slides. It's the never ending disaster state.

But this morning the wind is starting, Mount St. Helena to the north of us at 4,340 feet (1,322 meters) is currently clocking 44 MPH winds with gusts to 63 MPH. (70 KPH -101 KPH)
This is going to bring problems as the ground is trying to soak up the rain, and the muddy topsoil will give way and topple trees.


It's all happened before, but the news reports are making it sound like Armageddon all over again. Why can't these news casters put things in perspective?

While life goes on, it's Sunday morning in a dry house with no leaks, coffee cup is going to get refilled, left overs in the fridge for lunch, nice windows to watch the storm through, and there's beer in the fridge for later.

If it gets really bad, there's a brand new bottle of Bushmills Irish Whisky in the cabinet.

While my garage is no where as nice as The Boss' shop, it's dry and fairly wind proof. Might work on a project out there today.

[MrKiwi]

Nice to hear, and get the correct perspectives. We're used to 100km per hour winds here, it's reasonably normal when storms race through, which they do at a rate of one or two a month.

Warm, safe, coffee, beer and a garage to muck around in. Sounds perfect on days like these.