The last few days have been surreal to say the least. The fires that are ranging through the Southern California area have affected us here in Encinitas. We thought one way to deal with this time of uncertainty is to share our story with all of you and if any of you feel so inclined we hope you will share yours with us by sending us an e-mail.

So far we are part of the fortunate San Diegians who have evacuated our neighborhoods, and hopefully not in the line of fire. Our story starts on Sunday October 21st which happened to be my birthday.

Greg and I took the day off to go to his niece's confirmation at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Encinitas that morning and then to the museums in Balboa Park in the afternoon. It was a nice relaxing day, but we certainly knew about the fires since you could see and smell the smoke in the air. Since our families live close to the coast we have never felt threatened by the fire reports we hear on the news in the past, and Sunday was no different. At this point we knew about the fires in the Tecate, and Ramona areas, also known as the Harris and Witch Creek fires, both of which were still miles east of us.

We had reservations at Jakes restaurant in Del Mar to celebrate my birthday. This is a nice fish and steak restaurant on the Beach in Del Mar. My brother and his family who live in the Murrieta community, 65 miles north east of us made plans to drive out for the occasion. Since my brother had to work that day we made the reservations for 8pm.

As we drove into Del Mar Sunday night the smell of smoke was much more intense then it was in San Diego. You could see the ash flying in the air. My brother phoned to tell us he was running a little late since traffic was starting to build on Interstate 15. As we entered the restaurant we noticed many people were waiting in line to pick up their cars from the valet. Inside we started over to the bar where we found the baseball playoff games underway. Greg and I watched the game with the rest of the crowd while we waited for my parents and niece Austen to arrive. With in no time we were seated at our table still waiting for my brother and his family. At about 8:30 we were all seated and chatting about personal stories and “What about those Santa Ana Winds?”, “Wow the smoke is pretty strong here in Del Mar”. None of us could have imagined what the intensity of those smells really meant in the hours to come.

As our conversations progressed our waiter urged us to place our orders since the kitchen staff were literally being tortured by the smoke that was ranging outside. For some reason the smoke was entering the kitchen and making life miserable for everyone in the restaurant. As we placed our orders we notice the patrons in the restaurant were dwindling. We ended up closing the place. As we drove home to Encinitas, which is 8 miles north of Del Mar, we noticed how clear the sky was becoming, and made comment to how much a few miles can make. I picked up my car and headed to my home to Vista, which is about 20 miles north east of Encinitas.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my Cell Phone chiming its usual Message, “Incoming Call from Greg’s Cell”. “Hi Honey, how are you?”. “Have you turned on the T.V. yet?”, Greg said. “No”, I said, “You just woke me up!” “Well you might want to have a look, because the fires have grown over night”, he said. I turned on the T.V. and for 4 hours couldn’t turn it off. It was unbelievable to find out that the fire that started in rural Ramona had progressed to a well populated area of Rancho Bernardo and Poway over night. At this point I could look out my patio door and see smoke rising to the north east, the beginnings of the Fallbrook Rice Canyon fire and the sky filled with smoke to the south, from the Witch Creek Fire.

Officials were telling us to stay put if you are not in a danger zone so others who needed to evacuate had the roads to do so. Vista seemed to be in a fairly safe spot, but those new clouds of smoke I was seeing to the north were making me nervous. I was pretty sure my parents were ok in Encinitas since they were still miles from the flames in Rancho Bernardo. So for a short while I thought that staying put was a reasonably good decision, until I talked it over with Greg. It came over me like a ton of bricks, “What am I thinking? Mom and Dad don’t drive, and need help getting out of Encinitas if need be. I can’t stay here, I need to get over to Encinitas ASAP!!” So I packed a few things, my pillow and my cat Coco to be sure and off I went. I really thought I was packing for one or two nights at their house in Leucadia. I decided to take the side streets and avoid the freeways, in lieu of what was being asked of us by the City officials. As I entered Carlsbad the smoke was getting more intense, and as I got to Encinitas the smoke was like fog crossing the road. You could see it passing in front of and behind cars.

Once I got to my parents home in Leucadia I was thinking we would try to treat this day like any other Monday. Monday is our family errand day. Common Threads is closed on Monday, so we schedule all our weekly errands like grocery shopping, doctor’s appointments, haircuts, and bank trips on this day. As we drove around the neighborhood it was very obvious that the parking lots were pretty empty, and that most stores had opted to closed for the day. I am sure it was mostly because of the air quality.

I wanted to drop Coco our cat off at the store while we shopped so she wouldn’t have to stay in the car. Common Threads is located on the Pacific Coast Hwy 101, only 3 blocks from the coast line, but to my surprise the smoke was much worse at the store than it was in Leucadia, only 4 miles away. I couldn’t leave her, and decided to keep her with us as we did our shopping. Mom and Dad went to the grocery store, while I went to the Auto Club to get some current maps. I kept the air conditioner on, but the smoke was really getting to us. I thought it best for us to start thinking about packing up our essentials and make our way to my brothers house in Murrieta. My mom thought I was over reacting and that instead of clogging up the highways we should just stay put. I pressed my point that regardless if we were in the line of the fire the smoke was unhealthy and we needed to get out. After all my father is 92, and my mother 85 years old.

She finally acquiesced and at 5 pm packed a few things. My dad had his suitcase, my niece had her computer and dog Ace, and I with Coco and pillow in hand, made our way down the Interstate 5 Freeway. Our trip to Murrieta was going to take longer than usual, since our normal route of Interstate 15 had closed down. The alternate route for us was to make it down I-5 with all the other 250,000 San Diego residents evacuating, until we reached the Ortega Hwy in Orange County. The Ortega Pass as some call it, is a two lane winding road that makes it way over the mountain ridge to the communities in Riverside, and ends at Lake Elsinore. To our surprise the Hwy is under construction and one section of the Hwy was down to a one lane road. This meant we were sitting in our cars waiting for something to move, not knowing what was causing us to sit. We weren’t sure if there was an accident, and frankly with all the fires around, it didn’t feel very comfortable sitting like a duck on the road. After about 20 minutes we started to move again and made our way over to I-15. We finally reached my Brothers house at 9:30 pm.

Today October 23, we are thankfully spending the day, and possibly then next several days in warm Murrieta. We have recently heard the local Indian Reservation, Pechanga is evacuating. That isn’t far from where we are but with the Grace of God these fires will get under control very soon. It has been a challenge to get San Diego local news here in Murrieta, but with the wonders of the internet I can view streaming news while I tell you our story.

Greg, who lives in San Diego decided to spend the day at Qualcomm Stadium to help where he could with the evacuees. He has been calling us throughout the day to give us updates as he hears them. His Sisters family lives in Jamul which has been effected by the Harris Fire and his Brothers family lives in Olivenhain which also has been evacuated because of the Witch Creek fire. On a lighter note, I just got off the phone with Greg and he was very excited to tell me he was directing traffic for the Limos carring the Governor and Katie Couric.

If you live in the San Diego area, we hope you and your families are safe and with loved ones. If you live out side of our communities please keep us in your prayers. Recovery is our next challenge. There will be many families who need all our support.

With all our prayers,
Nancy & Caryl
Common Threads