Community > Cycle Tours
Weather delay
Danneaux:
Hi All!
Hoping to get off on a shortish test-tour soon to vet some new equipment before taking a much longer desert journey on the Nomad. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to delay my departure till later in the summer, putting me square in the middle of our new-normal wildfire season.
Oregon's wildfires are getting worse...and closer. Local radio (KPNW) callers report wolves were seen just outside the runway fences at the Eugene Airport this morning, driven closer to town by the drought conditions -- just like the mountain lions:
https://nbc16.com/news/local/cougar-seen-in-residential-springfield-area
http://www.registerguard.com/news/20180724/cougar-shot-and-killed-in-springfield-neighborhood/1
We're okay here in Eugene at the southern end of the Willamette Valley but Southern, Central, and Eastern Oregon are being hit pretty hard by some fire complexes. Lots of structures lost near Dufer: https://www.ktvz.com/…/long-hollow-fire-doubles-i…/774383656
Air quality in town worsened sharply last night and made the moon very orange. This morning, the normally blue skies are all brown and are expected to worsen throughout the day.
I'm having to replan some of the route for my next bicycle tour and plan to leave my stove at home, eating only cold food while traveling. The risk of starting a fire is just too great and besides the horrific damage, I could never hope to outrun a fire once it started in these conditions. Much better safe than sorry.
A friend coordinates the state emergency management GIS system and it provides useful realtime info on fire and other problems:
https://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=f8a0d8814a67445a9e6bf3485f4fd24f
More recent photos in the links below if you have a Facebook account:
https://www.facebook.com/KDRV12/posts/10158081045848312
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1984933641527192&set=a.361651147188791.83129.100000317256190&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CaveJunction/permalink/10155645846322393/
https://www.facebook.com/KDRV12/posts/10158080754673312
Best,
Dan.
geocycle:
Take care Dan. I have experienced fires in France and Australia and the results were not very nice at all. Changes in wind are the most scary as are often very hard to predict. We've had moorland fires in the UK but the wet weekend will be helping to douse them. As you say, the new normal.
jags:
scary stuff stay well away from that. ???
mickeg:
I would take a butane stove, but I insist on coffee in the morning.
I hope you have cell service with data plan so you can check on weather forecasts as that relates to fires, plus of course data on the fires.
Danneaux:
No cell coverage in about 75% of the area I go, George; too remote and not enough towers for coverage, even for Verizon.
All the best,
Dan.
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