what an adventure!
You may have seen the news about the forest fire in the san bernardino wilderness. Yeah i was there.
Me and Bessie had taken two boys cabins to the lake when all of a sudden we hear mario yelling on the walkie talkies: "FIRE------CAMP ROAD------FIRE!" We had just sent out canoes, and tried to convince surrounding campers that it was probably a control fire. Mario had been on bikes for the day, and was at the trailhead on HWY 38 when they saw flames across the road. So everyone is walkie-talkied to come back to the dining hall, and we were rushed from the lake, which, by the way, is about a mile and a half away from camp and across hwy 38. I led the walk down the trail, terrified. the sky was black with smoke,and we were walking towards the source. As we neared the hwy, Todd met us with an obviously apprehensive look about him. We crossed the Hwy behind nearly 40 Ranger Hotshot emergency vehicles and marched the remaining half a mile to camp. When we got there, the kids were sent to dinner (it was only 430), and we joined the rest of the staff on the roof of Modular( our lodging). From up there we took pictures and watched flames lick the tree tops. The wind was blowing the other way and the fire was controlled on our end of it. So we sat up there and had a barbeque, joking about packing our bags and the internationals grabbing thier passports. But then at 530 the sherriff arrived and told us that we were being evacuated for real.
we went to yucaipa high school with tons of other evacuated camps. the red cross disaster relief volunteers were there and we stayed up till 3 am waiting for reports on the fire. when we went to sleep it was 40% contained and moving eastward, toward alpine meadows, where i was certified on high ropes. the cots and blankets were uncomfortable- youve seen the scene in movies and on the news...the next day we drove up the backway to big bear, to alissas house. i only had a change of clothes , lotion, my toothbrush, and my laptop. i was still in my swimsuit from the lake. gross i know. we showed and stayed the night at alisssas since the hwy was still closed.
we woke up to "hey you guys london was bombed, call your families to make sure everyones ok!" The english folks didnt know anyone hurt so that was good. We came back to camp at noon yesterday. since ymca santa barbara went home form the high school( they had been at camp this week), counselors had to come back last night to collect cabin luggage. each and everyone of them had left as they were- no wallets, no change of clothes). so we helped them load a uhal of lugggage.
today we cleaned camp and watched movies as a sort of 'day off' (hostage with bruce willis is really good)
and tomorrow yorba linda ymca arrives and ill be at the pool all day tanning and giving swim tests.
by the way im not that white anymore. it must be all that mountain sun....
ill post pics of the evacuation later. cuz theyre on scotts camera.
till then, take care, i hope all of your summers are as fun as mine so far.
~sarah
Me and Bessie had taken two boys cabins to the lake when all of a sudden we hear mario yelling on the walkie talkies: "FIRE------CAMP ROAD------FIRE!" We had just sent out canoes, and tried to convince surrounding campers that it was probably a control fire. Mario had been on bikes for the day, and was at the trailhead on HWY 38 when they saw flames across the road. So everyone is walkie-talkied to come back to the dining hall, and we were rushed from the lake, which, by the way, is about a mile and a half away from camp and across hwy 38. I led the walk down the trail, terrified. the sky was black with smoke,and we were walking towards the source. As we neared the hwy, Todd met us with an obviously apprehensive look about him. We crossed the Hwy behind nearly 40 Ranger Hotshot emergency vehicles and marched the remaining half a mile to camp. When we got there, the kids were sent to dinner (it was only 430), and we joined the rest of the staff on the roof of Modular( our lodging). From up there we took pictures and watched flames lick the tree tops. The wind was blowing the other way and the fire was controlled on our end of it. So we sat up there and had a barbeque, joking about packing our bags and the internationals grabbing thier passports. But then at 530 the sherriff arrived and told us that we were being evacuated for real.
we went to yucaipa high school with tons of other evacuated camps. the red cross disaster relief volunteers were there and we stayed up till 3 am waiting for reports on the fire. when we went to sleep it was 40% contained and moving eastward, toward alpine meadows, where i was certified on high ropes. the cots and blankets were uncomfortable- youve seen the scene in movies and on the news...the next day we drove up the backway to big bear, to alissas house. i only had a change of clothes , lotion, my toothbrush, and my laptop. i was still in my swimsuit from the lake. gross i know. we showed and stayed the night at alisssas since the hwy was still closed.
we woke up to "hey you guys london was bombed, call your families to make sure everyones ok!" The english folks didnt know anyone hurt so that was good. We came back to camp at noon yesterday. since ymca santa barbara went home form the high school( they had been at camp this week), counselors had to come back last night to collect cabin luggage. each and everyone of them had left as they were- no wallets, no change of clothes). so we helped them load a uhal of lugggage.
today we cleaned camp and watched movies as a sort of 'day off' (hostage with bruce willis is really good)
and tomorrow yorba linda ymca arrives and ill be at the pool all day tanning and giving swim tests.
by the way im not that white anymore. it must be all that mountain sun....
ill post pics of the evacuation later. cuz theyre on scotts camera.
till then, take care, i hope all of your summers are as fun as mine so far.
~sarah