Road trippin' from Seattle to San Jose, my first drive along the West Coast like this. Paulette, baby Alexander, and I makin' our way down I-5 through Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California.

Northern California is on fire.

We drive past a fire where some kind of large fuel tanks near the highway are blazing; many firemen and fire trucks are on the scene hosing down the flames. There are also several grass fires, and most of them appear to be deliberately set by officials who are on the scene. Traffic continues to drive through the smoke, and I am surprised to find that we can feel the brutal heat from one particular fire even inside our vehicle. Those fires are hot!

Paulette and I are guessing that these short patches of grass are being set now so as to contain any major fire that might head this way later... containment that should result from using up the fuel that could keep such a fire going. Nonetheless, with temperatures in the triple digits even without the aid of the fires, it's amazing to see California burn. Something we would have missed had we simply flown in.