Hot time on Catalina

I went out to Catalina Wednesday morning on a University boat. It was a nice smooth crossing. I visited the house in which we are going to live, and it was bigger than I remembered it, although there weren't two little boys filling it up. Didn't really do to much else that day. I re-acquainted myself with the computer I'll be using on the island, and did some preliminary set-up type work. John and I talked a little about projects.

Thursday was mostly more of the same; hacking around on the computer a bit. It was cool on the island, much cooler than LA was. LA was baking hot - 90 degrees and dry, dry, dry. Catalina was probably only about 75. Long pants and a fleece were appropriate. The wind was blowing steadily. About 3:30 in the afternoon, just after I got the email saying I might be able to log in to the USC system, suddenly the internet connection went out. As it was about dinner time on the east coast, I thought I'd call Sweetie while the internet was down, but, hmm the phones didn't work either. Then John appeared and said the land line was down. The construction guys on the island (who are building a new conference center) swore it was nothing they had done, and they were right. A fire had broken out on the island and burned down the microwave relay tower. The wind was pushing the fire toward Avalon, the big town on the other side of the island. We were relieved it wasn't heading our way. Then the power went out. So there we were with no power, a fire, and no method of communication with the mainland. Sticky.

We grilled some food for dinner, and played some Yahtzee with the kids. After the sun set, you could see the glow of the fire over the ridge. A few people managed to get cell phone calls through by walking up to the top of the ridge and getting a signal from LA. In the morning, a University boat arrived at around 9:30am. The director had brought over dry ice, batteries, satellite phones, and a portable generator. They were making a run back to the mainland with a group of students, so I hopped that boat. And here I am back in LA.

The fire seems to be controlled now. They have no idea when power will be restored to Two Harbors - might be a week or more. I guess such fires will be a fact of island living, although everyone was saying this was a very rare event. It was good to see such a quick, organized response from both Orange County and the USC staff.

Well, I'm rattling around LA today. Back home tomorrow.