Tom and I were out and about a bit today and I snapped a few pics.
There is still a ton of smoke and
ash.
Basically our area is no longer indicated for suggested evactuation so we felt comfortable feeling out the limits of our range. We knew the 5 freeway was wide open to the north and south so we thought we'd head in the direction of Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe to see what was open as possible routes.
You start to run into a lot of
this and
this.
We went past the Del Mar fairgrounds and found the National Guard
manning the gate. National Guard troops were
visible in other parts of town as well. There presence is significant but if you look closely they don't have magazines in their weapons. It's not armageddon yet, but it's a good deterent. There have been people postering for false evacuations with the intention of looting.
Right now 500,000 people have been evactuated. It's a staggering number. Most people did not go far. I sent my parents to LA, but most just moved along to an adjacent area that was not mandatory. Over an extended period of time those addtional people would draw heavily on now-limited resources. You begin to see how a Katrina type situation could develp very quickly. Again I'm astounding by the unwillingness of people to make preparations or take precautionary action.
In addtion to people there are a lot of animal refugees. My good friend trailered two horses out of Rancho Santa Fe. Rather than taking them to an animal shelter he decided to "pasture" them
at the elementary school by my house once he heard school was cancelled for the week. They
don't seem to mind.
Since we have not left yet and I had additional time I moved the 110 and the Porsche to the
underground garage at my work. The building is surrounded by a large expanse of defensible space. Far better than my house. I want to give the 110 a chance. It would be pretty tough to replace.