🔥 Change of plans: I'm definitely NOT driving all the way up to the Crater Lake Century, which is still slated to take place on August 18, 2018. This was going to be my first big road trip since Katie and I took our underutilized (but awesome) Sprinter cargo van on a camping & cycling journey through Nevada and Utah in 2010. That's a long time to go between multi-state road trips, so my sadness and disappointment feel pretty profound at the moment. I shall limit my whining about this predicament because the reason for the cancellation of this trip—at least in its original form—is that California and Oregon are on fire. Firefighters are risking their lives, some people are losing their lives, and many people are losing their homes to these blazes. 

When the fires initially broke out, I thought I would shift my focus from cycling to relief efforts along the way. But the Red Cross refused my application to volunteer because my home address is too far from where they need help. I've also canceled my lame ($0 raised) goFundMe campaign intended to supplement my own contributions to help assist fire victims. Now, instead of hands-on volunteering and direct relief fund distribution, I'm reverting to our usual means of helping: making a donation, which I encourage everyone to do. The Red Cross will direct the funds exactly to where you want them to go.
✚ American Red Cross 

The smoke in Oregon at the site of the planned "century" ride is just the icing on the disaster-cake of a trip this was starting to look like. My northbound route to Oregon, mostly using coastal California Highway 101, has a couple fires near/around it (Mendocino Complex). And my southbound return path along Interstate 5 with a planned detour to Sequoia National Park has its own set of fires still burning, as shown on the fire incident map below. Maybe August 2018 is not the best time for a big road trip? Sometimes I have a hard time giving things up, and this is no exception. I'm looking for a compromise—finding new places to ride that aren't covered in smoke—but we'll still have to play this by ear.

Meanwhile, back home on the ranch, we're still in the thick of a Caribbean-style hot & humid weather pattern that is so unlike the California weather I once knew. The LOW barely got below 80°F last night, but as they say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." OK, no whining about this or the "running toilet issue" one of our tenants brought up yesterday. (I  do wish our tenants were at least as handy as I am.) 
Right. Repeat after me, "I'm all about gratitude." I'm alive and well. My family is alive and well. Our house is not burning, and I installed a mini-split air conditioner (yes, on my very own!) a couple years ago so Katie and I slept comfortably last night. I hope you did, too. 
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Earlier this year, a friend visiting from Colorado to enjoy the Belgian Waffle Ride with me mentioned that the Crater Lake Century is on his bucket list but he couldn't do it this year because of a schedule conflict. After seeing Crater Lake several times from commercial flights overhead, I've wanted to get there to see it up close, so I added that ride to my list. Now that I've retired and turning 60 this year, I don't delay my bucket list items. Whether or not you share lanes with distracted and irrational drivers, you never know when your number is up, so why wait?

Sometimes my timing isn't so good. Like when I asked my wife to marry me. Bad timing, wrong approach. But hey, we're still together, married, happy and in love almost 42 years after our first date on August 19, 1976. 

Well, it looks like my timing on "which year to ride the Crater Lake Century" could not be worse. I got an email a few days ago from Zach Gilmour (the ride organizer and owner of Zach's Bikes) explaining how the ride could potentially be canceled due to fire hazards and air quality. For me, it's not just the fires near Crater Lake that are a factor. You see, I'm DRIVING up there (leaving San Diego on the 13th) and planning to do some rides along the way. I plan to take a somewhat coastal route on the way there, then an inland path on the way back. And guess what...there are quite a few fires along the way, all in various stages of growth or containment. As I type this, the Mendocino Complex fire has just become the second-largest in California history. The Carr/Redding fire has destroyed so much and killed so many, but the air might be clear enough for me to stick to my camping plans in areas like Shasta Lake because it's already 45% contained and I'm not going to be in that area until August 19th.  

Suffice to say I'm rethinking my ride plans. I have limited time (need to be in Santa Barbara for a family wedding by the 24th), but I have resources. I have money, a big-ass Sprinter cargo van, and plans to go near some pretty devastated areas. My heart compels me to look into ways I might be able to directly help victims of the fires. Most people have insurance, but most people also have totally inadequate savings to help them through tough times, like when they're waiting for the insurance company to shell out some money. Maybe a stranger showing up in their burned-out neighborhood with food, drinks, and a little cash to help them through the day might be a sight for sore, smoke-singed eyes? I don't know. I like to leave a positive emotional footprint, and that's more important than how many miles I ride on this trip. We'll see how this unfolds.