Pacific Palisades Fires

Today, I drove home to Los Angeles from Northern California and, shortly after entering the L.A. area, spotted the Pacific Palisades fire a few hours after it had begun. (I did not learn the details of the fire until I returned home, discovering it had become a national news story.)

The photo at right was taken on the 405 South freeway entering into West L.A. where I live, from the San Fernando Valley. The photo is around the Getty Museum that I visited just a few weeks ago (in fact, I believe that's the Getty nestled in the mountain to the left). This photo is probably 5-8 miles away from the fire.

I initially began this post to note that, on this drive, I broke my personal record for the 313 mile drive, making it in 4 hours and 10 minutes! Over the past couple years, I have made this round trip drive a few times a year now that my son attends college up there—I also have family in the area, which helps break up the drive over a few days. 

For decades, I accepted the fact that the wall for this drive was 4.5 hours, but this past year, I broke it a few times at 4 hours and 15 minutes. Over the course of today's trip, I watched GoogleMaps gradually shave my arrival time by more than 45 minutes.

Indeed, in addition to the fire, this trip was more fraught than usual. During my drive, I encountered high winds up in the mountains that jerked my car sideways a couple times—winds that likely helped fuel the fire's spread. I even saw several tumbleweeds roll across the freeway lanes in front of me! On the trip, I also had to swerve around a detached SUV bumper in the carpool lane I was in and, this afternoon, a huge piece of truck tread in the middle of the freeway. 

Oh, well, at least I made it home safe and sound. As I write this, the fires continue to spread—all my good wishes go to everyone affected by the disaster.