Surveying

There was a light rain all day (Saturday) but I wasn't going to keep me from getting out and doing a real survey of what I learned was the hardest hit part of town.

Between stops to take photos, I tried my best to help people when I could.  The first time was after I left an event at church. There was only one lane of traffic open and out of nowhere, in front of me on the road was a large pile of tree debris. I figured one of the dozens of trucks hauling stuff away must have lost it from the back of their trailers. I did what I would hope most people would do. I stopped right there, put on my flashers and began picking it up and tossing it to the side of the road.  One of those landscape trucks stopped next to me and the young man tossed the largest branches into the truck but people started getting impatient and the driver got nervous about blocking traffic.  I don't know much Spanish but I could figure out what the older man told the kid. I stayed until the road was clear of junk, whether those who were slightly inconvenienced (by 5 seconds) because they had to pass me appreciated my efforts.

I drove through a neighborhood called Pueblo Estates. As I did, the damage I witnessed was jaw-dropping.  The homes here aren't "estates." They are modular homes, similar to double wide mobile homes. I remember them being very popular in the 1970's. The first thing I spotted was a pile of sheet metal. It had blown off of a roof. Then the trees, one after another.  

After my foray through Pueblo Estates, I made my way through a maze of detours and parked in the Safeway parking lot. Of the five entrances/exits, only one was open.  I tried, still standing in the drizzle,  to help people figure out how to get out and routes they could take to get where they needed to go. My overall impression of interacting with people all day was that they were...out of sorts.

I took a few photos of cranes pulling up electric wires and removing and replacing damaged poles.  I watched for a decent amount of time because I thought it was interesting. Then I took a walk down the middle of one of the busiest roads in the area (it was closed and surreal). I started on the sidewalk but as you can see from one of the extras, I had to stop "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (Shel Silverstein poem/book): 4th extra.

Heck of a day.  I won't put all of my photos in as extras but enough to help feel the magnitude of what hit us. Will try to add one from my phone, too.  I spoke to several neighbors who also felt their homes shake. I know many blippers have been through really bad storms. But for this relatively quiet, desert retirement community, it's quite a disaster.

Last week's MM hearts will be spread during on my mono Monday blip.  Thanks for your patience.