Lost In The Right Direction

I enjoy wandering the sagebrush hills in search of flowers, playing with the light and feeling the peace and quiet.  The only noises are the sound of the birds singing, the brush of the tall weeds against your pants, the rustle of the grass with the breeze.  I can waste hours enjoying natures beauty, in the quiet. It doesn't always have to be about the big views, incredible mountains, and high lakes.  I enjoy finding places that I can hike over and over again and still enjoy all the beautiful flora and the great outdoors with very little effort.  Places like this make it easy to get out in the evenings and empty the mind of all the daily grind. 

It's been a pretty rough few days. The fires in our area started I believe the 14th and we spent a few days under a cloud of smoke. Thursday morning the smoke was extremely heavy in Pateros when I left for work. By early noon the reports were not good on the fire being stopped. I had several folks say that the orchards surrounding Pateros would most likely keep it out of the town. Sometime late afternoon in Chelan the wind had picked up and was blowing very hard. As hard as I tried I could not get away from the office, looking back I should have just walked out. I left Chelan at 6 PM Thursday the 17th and by the time I was within a mile or two of Pateros I could see the flames dancing on the hill above the orchard behind our home. It was not good, I had time to change my clothes, move vehicles out of the driveway so fire trucks could reach our home and start moving animals. I managed to get my horse, and my dogs down the hill to the street and loaded. Somewhere in betwe...