Jeez, I don't even know where to start. I'll give the people what they want, and then I'll write a bunch of babbling crap that everyone can read at work when they're bored, ok?
First off: Photos from Donna and Jason's Wedding!
It was a very quick weekend - flew in on Friday, had about an hour before I had to be at the rehearsal, dinner at Champps, then stayed up until 1 am with the beautiful bride and Heather playing video games and painting our nails... Saturday, got my hair done, went to Donna's parents' house for photos, then off to Ann Arbor - yes, the same time as the Michigan-Michigan State football game traffic! - to marry my darling off to Jason! Drank too much, danced like a crazy woman, tried to catch up with a ton of people I haven't seen in forever... Then went in my bridesmaid dress to my favorite sports bar in Ann Arbor, the Arena, with a bunch of people... Sunday woke up with a nasty wine hangover and hit up Spicer's Orchards with Tara and Linda... And then found myself back in the Detroit Metro Airport waiting to fly back to Colorado! Hardly had time to sit down!
Tim picked me up and we relaxed while watching Northern Exposure Season 2, slept in this morning and went grocery shopping at Whole Foods. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day/week/month to do everything! But I think I am done with airplanes until at least next January, thank goodness.
My German Shepherd puppy should be born between October 23-38, and ready to come home for Christmas! This is why I probably won't be back in Michigan for the holidays.
Michigan was absolutely beautiful, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for Donna's outdoor wedding - 67 degrees, sunny, light breeze... I get back to Colorado and find out we should be getting 3-6" of snow up in Estes Park (1-3" in Denver) today. It's been raining none stop since I got back, but I just looked on the mesa across the street from me and it's looking a little dusted! I love snow and winter, but going from fall in Michigan to winter in Colorado in a matter of hours is a shock to the system!
And then there's the fire I was on for the past few weeks...The fire guys had warned me that Sunday that I may get sent out with the Northern Colorado Handcrew, but things were slowing down and I really doubted it. Despite my skepticism, I packed up enough gear to be out for 2-3 weeks and kept it in my truck. Monday the 18th, I was supposed to have an entire crew of volunteers helping me close Bear Lake Road so I could fell a bunch of hazard tree, and the next day I was supposed to have volunteers to help remove beetle trees in Glacier Basin Campground. Since I had all this work to do, it shouldn't have surprised me that I got a call at 9:30 am, giving me one hour to get my gear together and be ready to roll from the Park to the dispatch center in Fort Collins. I'm so thankful my coworkers picked up the slack for me!
We picked up Lloyd, a firefighter from the Park, and met up with 18 other people in Fort Collins - US Forest Service out of Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Sulfur District, Americorps and Forest Service out of Nederland, Larimer County, and City of Boulder wildland firefighters. This was my first time out with a handcrew like this and I had no idea what to expect. We loaded up 5 pickup trucks/SUVs and were quickly on the road to the Pigeon Fire in Weaverville, California (northern California, west of Redding). I drove out with Lloyd, Matt from the city of Boulder, and Hutch from the Forest Service out of the Sulfur District.
We stayed one night in the now-infamous West Wendover, Nevada and made it out to northern California... only to arrive and immediately be reassigned to Bassetts fire near Sierraville, California (another 6 hour drive south, near Truckee). So we hopped back in our trucks and found ourselves in a beautiful area of California with huge 6-7 ft. diameter redcedar and pine trees.
This was my first fire camp experience. Set amidst a farmer's pastures (don't worry, the cows were penned up elsewhere), there were trailers and tents and tons of fire engines and trucks from all over. At one point, even the Midnight Sun Hotshot crew out of Alaska was down there with us. We set our tents up along the woods as far from the hustle and bustle of the main camp area, and this was my home for the next 2 weeks - a small Eureka tent, portable shower trailer, port-o-potties, and essentially meals-on-wheels. Itwas around freezing most nights, and most of us didn't have the warmest sleeping bags and ended up needing two bags to stay warm. We'd wake up at 5:30 am, roll out of our bags into the cold, dark morning, dress up in our boots, Nomex, and hooded sweatshirts (a firefighter trademark, it seems), and line up, single file, to walk across the field by 6 am. Hoodies over our heads, hands in our pockets, and our breath visible in the air, we'd line up outside the food trailers and get served huge portions of eggs, bacon, nasty malto-meal, and whatever else we could stomach, grab some chocolate milk and coffee, and eat in a big cold tent. Ironically, we got heaters in the tents once the weather warmed up. We'd eat pretty fast, since our butts froze to the cold metal chairs, then our two squads would gather our assigned gear - water, lunches, supplies - and we would gather around our 5 rigs and get the morning briefing... somewhere in there, we'd brush our teeth with a water bottle outsides the trucks.
Soon we'd be driving out of Sierraville to Bassetts, I think it would take about an hour depending on which Drop Point we were assigned to. The first few days, we mostly were just holding the fireline - we dug some by hand, but mostly it was dozer line scarring the hill in an effort to contain the fire. It had gone from 500 acres to over 1,000 over night, and the first day they tried to do a burnout operation (backfiring the fire into itself, to use up the fuel between our control line and the fire front) and we just stood there and watched for spot fires in the unburned areas. Another day, the humidity went way low and wind speed was 30-50 mph, pushing the fire towards the direction we were trying to protect. Needless to say, the fire jumped a couple lines, started spot fires all over the place, and they pretty much had to start over and put another dozer line in, 1 1/2 miles long down the hill. I did get to see some pretty sweet fire behavior - trees torching out, 200-250 ft. flame lengths, and that whitethorn bush sure goes up fast!
So for a few days, it was alternating between standing along the dozer line, usually freezing our asses off (that windy day was especially rough) and watching for spots fires, and wading waist high in sharp whitetorn bushes in the unburned area, gridding for spots. It got to the point that we'd have to make warming fires along the dozer line to keep warm, especially on the days we worked 15-16 hr days, working until 8 pm or so. One day we were stuck staging for a while, waiting for instructions... so we whipped out a portable DVD player and watch a couple movies. ;)
Finally things went in our favor, the winds died down and changed direction, and it looked like they'd get ahold of it. It was pretty sweet watching the helicopters and tankers overhead, doing bucket drops and slurry. Hopefully some of the guys from the fire will share their photos, since I didn't bring my camera.
Once the fire was manageable and almost contained, we started having to grid out in the black (burned) area, looking for hot spots. I pretty much spent the rest of the time walking up and down the hills, sometimes very steep and rocky, covered in ash and breathing in so much dust... Quite a few of us got sick, Lloyd actually left the fire very early on because he was ill, and I'm still recovering from all the coughing and sore throat that afflicted me. Part of our job was also to inspect around the homes and cabins that had been evacuated. It was pretty intense to see trees torching out right across the road from these buildings, and there were so many engines and hoses on this fire it was like a freaking circus! I guess that's how they do things out in California. ;)
It wasn't all excitement and physically hard work; I think the toughest part was the mental aspect of repeatedly gridding over the same area over and over and over again, or the down time where not much was going on... keeping myself entertained without driving everybody else nuts, ha ha! I got to know everybody pretty well, considering how much time we spend working, eating, hanging out, driving, and getting sick together. Many people started to get frustrated or grumpy for one reason or another - for me, mostly because I'm just cranky when I'm sick, and because I'm not good at standing or sitting still! - but for the most part it went pretty well!
When all was said and done, Bassetts fire was over 2,100 acres. The wonderful people of that town made dinner for the firefighters every night. We only ate there once, but they were so nice and thankful!
So much more happened, but there is only so much I can say... It's just something that you need to experience to truly understand what it's like. I have to admit that going out on that dispatch rekindled how much I love firefighting, and how much I loved working for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Montana. It was a totally different experience this time around, but something about it... I think it takes a certain type of person to appreciate it, and I can't really describe why I love it. ;)
Finally, they started releasing crews from the fire but we were kept on. We packed up our tents and ended up staying in a hotel in Truckee, where we had our first beers and soft beds in 2 weeks. Which means of course that I couldn't sleep at all in my bed (I actually slept very well on the ground in my tent), ha ha. Up all night coughing! We finished mopping up and rehab, and we weren't sure if they were going to keep us on, reassign us to the Day Fire in southern California, or send us home. Alas, they released us on Monday. This was fantastic news for me - originally we were going to be home on Thursday so I could fly out to Michigan for Donna's wedding on Friday; however, because we were reassigned, it bumped our 14 work days/4 travel days back, and I wasn't going to make it home in time for my flight on Friday! This led to a huge debachle of trying to figure out how I could get from a small town in California to Detroit. Anything from flying from Reno to Denver, or flying from Salt Lake City straight to Detroit, taxis and flight changes and anything else I could come up with... For a while there, I didn't think I would make it back for the rehearsal dinner! It all worked out ok in the end though.
On the way home, we stayed in Reno. Ahhh, Reno. What a sight for sore eyes for a bunch of people that just spent 2 weeks in the woods, made a lot of money, and haven't had any alcohol in just as long! There was a lot of potential for overindulgence and bad consequences, but everybody kept their acts together. BUT... What happens in Reno, stays in Reno, so I can't really say much more on what happened. I will say that quite a few people went home a few hundred dollars poorer, I learned a few new lessons in life, and tried to convince our crew boss to marry me so I could have health benefits. ;) Needless to say, it didn't happen and Tim's still stuck with me for now, ha ha!
The next night we stayed in Evanston, WY and let me put it like this: Only 4 of us went to the bar that night. You just can't top Reno!
And then just this past Wednesday, I found myself back in Colorado. Exchanged numbers and email address, hopefully have enough people interested to play some pond hockey this winter, and have some year-round Colorado resident friends tohang out with, since all of my seasonal friends will be gone soon!
Thursday I had a paid day off for R & R, and then I flew back to Michigan on Friday. Met up with Looch, one of the Boulder fire guys, for lunch before I left - I am going to do some tree felling with him and, if he likes what he sees, I'm going to be doing fire mitigation side work for him over the winter. This is important, since I may be unemployed as soon as this Thursday (but maybe working until the 24th; not sure yet). Then Matt was nice enough to hang out with me at the Jiffy Lube while I got my oil changed, because I hate sitting there and waiting! :)
I know I've left so much out, but it's probably in my best interest to keep this a little bit censored for the sake of A. readability and B. liability, ha ha!
Now, time to catch up with the life I've neglected back here in Colorado for the past 3 weeks, and to spend all my hard earned money on pro-deals on outdoor gear!
Oh - Breckenridge skiing trip is definitely on for you Michigan folks. I am going to try to look into it, but I know Kevin and Beth are coming out so let them know you are interested!
This is the fire camp in Sierraville, CA.
Just a little bit o' fire along the road
We were really bored so Kimsey cut down a little tree and put it in our truck; Matt helped me decorate it with empty apple juice cans.
The Bell's Oberon mini-keg that I was so excited about
Yeah, I was a bridesmaid.
Yeah, it was a little sketchy... I loved it, of course. ;) We took this picture for you, Mom!