Here come the wild fires...

You know the saying "wild horses couldn't drag me away," and I really mean it. I want to go up and spend the weekend camping. I also want to meet this guy in person.

Well it seems that instead of wild horses, it may be wild fires that keep me away this time :( Since yesterday, ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation) has been debating wether or not I-17 will have to be closed at times due to the Cave Creek Complex Fire. I found this series of pictures from NASA sattelites that show how the fire has progressed. The last couple of days are pretty scary.

ADOT knows that there is only ONE direct route to Flagstaff, and there's going to be a LOT of holiday trafffic desperate to escape the valley heat. So closing the 17 will be a last resort option. However, ADOT has already posted three suggested detours people can take if the 17 is to be closed. One for semis, one going east to Payson, and one going west to Wickenburg. All these roads are pretty much one lane each direction (east may have two lanes now), so a detour is really going to suck. I'll go to Wickenburg if I have to detour, which puts me too far west. But hey, it's my only option.

There's already a low visibility warning on ADOT's traffic page for the 17. While traffic is still allowed (for now), it don't look too promising.