San Diego Fires 10/22 evening

Hi All:

Our house seems to be out of the way of the fires, but since the smoke was heavy outside we decided to get out of town. I packed up Sean (baby), Frankie (dog) and Sheila's (wife's) house guests and set out. We swung by Palomar hospital in the Escondido valley to get Sheila. There we found red smoke filled skies, 50+ mph winds and an erie calm. Inside the hospital we could smell smoke - patients and staff were wearing masks.

We drove the 5 adults, 1 infant and 1 crazy 80 pound lab to Carlsbad - a nearby beach city to get some fresh air. That lasted about 2 hours before we could smell smoke again. So I packed everyone up again and headed to Orange County. Route 5 out of San Diego County was bumper to bumper. 1.5 hours later, we arrived in Dana Point only to find no room at any of the hotels around. So we drove up pacific coast hwy another 20 miles and found 1 room open at a Best Western in Laguna Beach. And they take pets - so I didnt have to sleep in the car with Frankie. We just settled in the room about 10 minutes ago. Very long & stressful day. But hundreds of thousands of San Diegans have it much much worse.

Sheila's father, brother, uncle and other family members are still stuck in between some fires in Rancho Penasquitos area of North San Diego. They are all together and we hope they're going to be OK.

You can stay up to date on the goings on with the fire at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/
http://sosdfireblog.blogspot.com/

I'll send another update tomorrow. Sorry I can't return all the calls - too many people and too much going on. I will use email and Jenny (my sister) as the main point of contact.

Pray for the others - this is a big disaster growing bigger by the minute.