Watching the smoke was a little unnerving, but we were not told to evacuate, until about 4:30. Then, it was a panic situation, the firemen were banging on the door, telling us to get out, immediately!
I didn’t have time to think, or pack…so, I took 2 bottles of water, a pillow, blanket, phone charger….(which was worthless, since all the power in town was out), 3 dogs, a cat and a cockatoo! I loaded the cat and bird in the Jeep, which was in the motorhome garage, then realized I couldn’t open the door, with no power! The door was 15 feet tall, so I couldn’t reach the pull cord.
Soooooo, I moved over to the regular car garage, pulled the cord, and it broke! Great, I’m trapped! I called Jimmy, in Shreveport, for ideas…he told me to get the snowplow pick-up and load it up. I was in the process when a fireman started hollering at me to hurry up,…I told him that I was trying, but was having a hard time. He asked what the problem was, I told him, so he said he had climbing equipment….yup, he climbed up the inside of my garage door and got it unhooked, so I got the jeep out! Hooray!
I called the Swiss Chalet (hotel) and they told me that they couldn’t rent me a room, because all their rooms had electronic keys and wouldn’t work without power. (Crazy, huh?)
Anyway, I ended up calling the Days Inn, and she had a room for me and my critters! They had no power either, but she had rooms! Ended up with several of my neighbors (and their dogs) getting a room, too!
We evacuated on Tuesday, and were not allowed back until Saturday. A couple of us came home Friday afternoon, since the fire had passed….
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