When we got up to our condo, the power was out. The smoke was so thick from all the wild fires. They had us stay in Depot Bay for the night in hopes that Gleneden had power the next day. We woke up the next morning to even thicker smoke. Ash was falling all over us. It was such a weird feeling. About two hours after we woke up we were informed that they had now declared the area a "level 3" which means emergency evacuation. We loaded everything up in the rental van, said a family prayer and started to head north. I asked Zac what he was doing because they said they were evacuating everyone north. Zac said he just wanted to see where he could go since it was bumper to bumper on the 101. We drove north for about 30 minutes and then we got to an area that a cop was blocking the road. We had to make a U turn and head back down the 101. We were then a little worried because we were now that much more behind getting out of the area. We were headed south on the 101 and all the sudden Zac turned left. I asked him what he was doing and he said, this is a highway it's got to lead somewhere. I was so worried because we didn't have cell phone service and we didn't have GPS because the smoke was SO THICK. We just prayed we were going to be okay. I asked Zac, "what if we are headed right to the fire" and he said "as long as we are headed south east I know we will be okay" I am not sure how he knew that but I felt at peace with it. We stayed on that highway for sometime and then it ended up leading right to the freeway. I was shocked but I know we were being guided. We made it to Portland and were able to change our flights to the next morning. We got a hotel and settled in for the night. It was about two hours later we looked out the window and noticed all the smoke in Portland now. We turned on the news and they announced the winds have now shifted and the smoke is all moving towards Portland. We were so worried we were going to get stuck in Portland, but we decided to have faith. We went to bed and got up really early to head the the airport. We were able to get to the airport, five hours before our flight took off. While we were sitting in the airport we found out that there were 35 fires burning :( When we were evacuated there were 5 fires burning :( Everyone in the airport was talking about the other fires being started by people. I was so sad for this word and the ciaos we are bringing on ourselves. We were able to get on our flight and get home. I kept watching news reports of Oregon after we were home and the day after we flew out they evacuated Portland. It was seriously a miracle we got out when we did. I know God was watching over us. We came home to no power from the storm here but it was still nice to be home.
This was about 10 minutes from Portland. The line of smoke was CRAZY but it felt good to see the sky again.
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