Our son Greg and his family live in Orange County, CA but they went out of town to Dumont Dunes this last weekend to do a little camping and riding on their sandrail and quadrunners. He called me this afternoon to tell me that they were stuck in Victorville, CA and unable to get home because the wildfires had closed all the roads home. They are safe, and have their trailer to stay in, but as he talked to me on his cell phone he said, "I can see the smoke from at least three different fires from where I am, Mom".
The fires are at least 50 miles away, and after my experience this summer with the wildfires in Idaho, I know that they are not near the actual danger. Still, without putting too much of a melodramatic bent on it, this is the worst I have ever seen during the time I have lived on the west coast.
What you may not hear about is that the Navy and Marine bases at San Diego and Camp Pendleton are closed down and they are taking care of their personnel as they can. That means they have helped the dependents of the (mostly) enlisted people to get through this disaster. I know for a fact that the personnel on Navy ships far away, themselves in harms way, are having a very difficult time trying to deal with knowing their families are in danger and not knowing for sure what the outcome will be.
UPDATE: 6:45 PM, they opened the road to Orange County long enough for the kids to make a dash for home, so they took it. They are now putting their trailer in the storage place and then going to get something to eat. I hope the storage place will be there....
Tons and tons of Halloween candy will be given out tonight. Why not make it into something the whole family can enjoy, and not just your kids who went out and trick-or-treated for it? 
