We are safe. I am sadden buy the loss of life and possessions. We are lucky and would like to thank all the first responders and everyone who expressed concern. Sunday night the 8th of Oct. was a little hard to go to sleep, we have 4 large oak trees surrounding our house and the winds were blowing at 50 to 60 miles an hour. Tegan called us around 1:30am Monday Oct. 9 to alert us about the fires. We stayed up all night watching the news and the rapidly spreading fire in the windy night air. The first 3 days were devoted to life threatening evacuation and not firefighting so the fire was going anywhere it wanted. We never lost power and stayed glued to the TV watching the fire consume areas where we knew friends and people lived. Very soon the communication was gone, no cell phones or email with sporadic texting. The smoke was thick and dangerous, we could see flames off in the distance on both sides of the valley. Everything was so uncertain. We had the car packed with pictures, family keepsakes and chips. The car was so heavy from the chips Cathy told me to drop them off at a friend’s house in the center of town. Monday night Oct. 9th Cathy and I left with Tegan, his wife Olivia and their 2 small boys, William and Milo. It was already hard to find rooms out of the fire area. We drove an hour away to find two rooms in Walnut Creek and the smoke was already there. Cathy, Tegan and I returned to Napa Tuesday. Tegan had to deal with his duties at Turley winery. Turley still stands but has lost some of their prized vineyards. The toxic smoke is bad for everyone buy very hard on young children. Olivia and the boys stayed out of Napa for two more nights before going to Colorado to stay with her parents. After one more day of heavy smoke, staying indoors and watching flames 2 miles to our east Cathy and I drove to Drew and his family’s house in southern CA. They let us move right in their master bedroom. We took advantage of our unplanned mini vacation and had a great time, all the time in the back of our mind was the knowledge of the heartbreak going on in our hometown. We returned to our standing home Monday the 16th with thick smoke still in the air. A little while ago we heard the fire around our house is mostly contained. We are the lucky ones but the last 9 days was nerve-wracking. ❤ To ALL.
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