"Fire and Rain"

All night that James Taylor song has been running through my head.  I couldn't remember all the words, so I looked them up this morning.  Mark used to play that song when we were younger.

Why was I thinking of that song?  Because fire and rain are what we are facing now.  Last night we had a huge thunderstorm here in Tucson.  It was beautiful actually.  In the evening we could see the clouds coming in and lightening in the distance and even some thunder.  We ate our dinner at the table on the patio outside our room with lightening visible but not rain.  The weather app on the phone said it was 99 degrees, but it didn't feel like that.  It felt perfect! Later in the room we heard the rain just pouring down.  Of course this is basically a desert environment, so this morning there is no evidence of rain anywhere on this property.  It's already bright and sunny and dry as a bone out there at 7:30 a.m.

The fire is what we are going to face driving to California today.  The San Bernadino County Bluecut fire is raging out of control and is 0% contained this morning.  82,000 people have been evacuated and the road from Las Vegas, Nevada to Los Angeles is closed.  We are planning on staying overnight in Colton, CA, which is just a small suburb 3 miles south of San Bernadino.  The graphics on the news this morning makes it look like the fire is on the back side of mountains from us, so hopefully we can stay in Colton tonight.  I guess we will find out when we get closer there.  We hope to keep tabs on the development as the day progresses.  The high heat, dry conditions, and strong winds are feeding the fire and it's growing rapidly.  We are just hoping it does not cross the mountains.  It has already burned homes and an historic diner, the Summit Inn, on Route 66, which ends in San Bernadino.  It's a little worrisome, enough to put that song in my head all night, but we are hopeful it will not prevent us from getting to Evey and Eric by tomorrow night.

I brought my scale in yesterday and checked the weight this morning.  It is the same, 261, so I'm okay with that.  Today and tomorrow will also be very good days.  Maybe in another two days I can report I'm UNDER 260.  Wouldn't that be nice?

I didn't take any pictures yesterday, but I am posting some pictures of this resort from 2013 when we were here before.  It hasn't changed, and we are even in the same room!

Love the saguaros!  In fact Saguaro National Park is just a few miles up the road.  We visited it last time we were here.

Our room is 24, one of four in this little group. 

Sombrero Mountain, visible from the resort.