Overheard in San Diego & LA

"I am heading to our vacation house in Lake Arrowhead on Saturday. My insurance company says they've never had to pay for fire damage in 30 years. I may be the first.

"The wind shifted so I went for a ride outside. After 5 miles my lungs and sinuses were hurting from smoke inhalation so I headed back home to ride the rollers and watch old Tour de France videos indoors"

"Send me a campy record group. I am using the down time from the fires to build up my new Time frame"

"My house was like 10 feet from where the arsonist started the fire in Orange County. Luckily we were in the opposite direction of the wind and the fire blew the other way, so our home is safe"

" I am sending a percentage of all "Animally-Speaking" purchases to help the animals who were displaced in the fires. " (www.animallyspeaking.com).

"We're ok. Had to close the stores for a couple of days. We've relocated to La Jolla and most of the staff is OK even though they had to evacuate"

"The surf has been awesome! As I rode my last wave today, I watched the smoke over towards Malibu. It's so sad"

"There's no place to ride! All of our trails are closed and you can't breathe"

The firestorm and it's aftermath rages on. When you hear things like "a million people are in shelters, evacuated etc.", it starts to be too big to understand. There are 2 million people in Nevada. That would be half the state's population! It hit close to home when my brother's family evacuated for a couple of days. Their home is ok and they are back there now.

I almost feel guilty writing about how "unreal and fabulous" it is here in Reno. So I won't. Yesterday was the first day some of the smoke from the over 500 miles away fires headed over the mountains and into our area. But this morning it is gone and the North winds are blowing in some cooler and cleaner air already. The harvest moon in the evenings is so big and bright it looks like you can reach up and touch it.

Many prayers to all my family and friends in Southern California!