Today was almost entirely a California day. I started in southern Oregon and within minutes was in California. I saw a few interesting things while I was on the last leg of this first part of my trip.
I saw a highway rest area that has a horse resting area. I'd never seen that before. It was on Hwy 97 a little south of the Oregon border.
I saw a white bird with black on the top of its head and a longish orange-red bill. It was hovering over the slough beside the road. It was a common tern. A little further on there were 3 white pelicans that were dirty looking from being in a pond with a lot of scummy stuff on it. But they seemed to be catching fish - it looked like one of them was swallowing a fish as I went by.
I saw how to minimize fire danger when mowing roadside grass. First the water truck sprinkles the grass. Then the mower cuts the grass. Finally, the third truck in line is a fire fighting type truck, just in case. The grass is so dry it smelled like the straw you'd put down for animals instead of lawn mower clippings.
I also saw a newly started fire. It was over the hill from the road I was on, at the far eastern end of Clear Lake. It hadn't been going very long when I saw it. A few vehicles passed me going to the fire as I headed to Upper Lake. One was a wildland fire crew truck, one was a support truck and the last one was a bus. The bus was empty, but I assume it was on its way to pick up a crew, as it was labeled as a CDF fire vehicle.
This part of California is still hot and dry. It doesn't look that different from normal years, since dry grass is normal after March or April. But it is drier than it looks and today topped out at around 100 degrees with a noticeable breeze. At almost 10 pm it's still over 80 in the house. The large noisy fan is coming to my room with me to help blow the hot air out of the room. Sleep will be difficult tonight. Oh well. We'll get some relief tomorrow by taking a picnic to the coast, where it should be 20-30 degrees cooler.
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