The SoCal Fires - Some Good News

[Desert Fox]

Early yesterday morning I took a run east on RT 78
to see how far I could go. The answer was Santa Ysabel(SY). The fire came within a few feet of several of the SY commercial buildings, however I am happy to report that Dudley's Bakery, Don's Market, The Apple Restaurant, The Julian Pie Company and the gas station all survived the fire.
SY had electricity restored late Saturday night and all were open for business Sunday morning at 8:00 AM, except the Julian Pie Company. Hardest hit by the fire was Don's Market. With the electricity off for five days, Don lost all of his
frozen foods and fresh meats - a big part of his inventory. He has no insurance. None of the merchants lost their homes which is good news. While I wasn't allowed to go into Julian I did talk to Dave Smothers of the Julian Pie Company.
He said that Julian has no electricity or water and didn't expect to have it restored until Wednesday at the earliest. He thought the town would be ready for business next weekend. I also
took a run through Valley Center and drove the lenght of Woods Valley Road. I am happy to report that the Bates Nut Farm and the big horse stud farm next door both survived the fire. The Bates Pumpkin Patch survived and there are hundreds of pumpkins ready for the picking next weekend. Next weekend is also their craft show. A good chance to pick up a Holiday present or two and they usually have really good food vendors at this event.

Anyway, a little good news to start the week.

Fred

[William]

Did you hear anything about the scrimshaw artist near Julian? What of the town (Wynola?) about 1/2 between Santa Ysabel and Julian? Any news there?

I'm going up next weekend, open for any day, just to head up and see what's there...

[Desert Fox]

William,

At 8:00 AM Sunday morning, the police were turning back folks at the junction of RTs 78 and 79 who didn't have a Wynola, Julian or Cuyamaca ZIP code on their driver's license. I never go past Santa
Ysabel, so I don't know about the Julian scrimshaw artist. We'll have to find out next weekend.

Fred

[Joe Dillard]

Thanks for sharing & that's some good news Fred!

A coworker of mine was up there yesterday helping a friend salvage what they could. This is close to highway 79 just south of Julian near the campground.