I've been iced out, rained out, snowed out, fogged out, hailed out, and froze out of railfanning trips, but today is a first for me- I was SMOKED out. Literally.......(koff koff) The heavy smoke from the fires in SE Georgia and Florida have ridden the south wind and have enveloped Cordele. Visibility is, as best, 1/2 mile. I-75 is closed somewhere south of here due to visibility issues (they ain't no visibility). Were the stuff not so irritating to my eyes and throat, I'd try for some artsy-fartsy shots. A moderate fog or mist I could deal with, but this crap is flat intolerable. I don't have respiratory issues, and I'm wondering how those who do deal with this. All the rain is up in northern GA- selfish no-good ^&^*$%^*s........ Reports from Miami, FL are that the smoke from these fires as well as the ones in northern Florida can now be seen there. Guess what- it's here, too. And I haven't heard as many freights on CSX today, so I wonder if the Fitzgerald Sub was closed around Waycross, or the line south of Waycross was closed due to fire issues. Thank goodness for hobby-related work and good AC.......koff koff.... Anybody got some slurry bombers to spare. We could use 'em here...
And before someone decides to call me for whining, I'm fully aware that at least 200,000 acres have been blackened by fires that have been proven hard to extinguish in an area hit hard by drought. I'm also quite aware that homes and personal property are at stake, and some has been lost to this menace. I-10, I-75 and several other highways have been closed on & off due to heavy smoke and threat of spreading fire. Peoples' lives, businesses, and livelihoods are being threatened by this menace. I complain about a little smoke, but as a healthcare professional I know what this does to folks with respiratory issues, and yesterday it was thick enough to cause those kinds of problems here. Certainly not a day to pursue my hobby, and not a day to be outside for much of any reason unless I'm a firefighter. I didn't make the slurry-bomber line as a crack- they really could be used around here in the worst way.
