Smoke gets in your eyes

©2015 Lydia Hinshaw

I-90, 50 miles west of Spokane

 WEST GLACIER, MT -- We arrived at our old favorite campground Saturday evening and were greeted with hugs by the owners.  We are camped in the same site where we lived for three summers while we drove shuttle buses in Glacier National Park.

 It took two days to get here and the first day, to Moses Lake, WA, went fine.  It was raining when we got up in Anacortes, but had quit by the time we had breakfast and got on the road.  The whole day was pleasant and we kept wondering when we would get into the smoke.

 We got that answer shortly after we left Moses Lake Saturday morning, eastbound on I-90.  Within 10 miles, we were in the murky effects of the many wildfires in the Pacific Northwest.

 We drove almost 400 miles in this stuff, and the photo shows the worst of it.  My eyes burned, and I wondered what each breath must be pulling into my lungs.

 There was a little rain overnight, and things were much brighter Sunday morning.  There is much less traffic than usual in the area, the the campground is far less busy than it has been in any of our three previous August tenures here.  It has not been a good year for anyone in the tourism business.