Summer of Smoke gives way to construction

I f last year was the summer of smoke, this year is the summer of roadwork. Heavy equipment is everywhere. There are paving projects and delays on most of our highways, even on quiet residential roads.

It used to be that summer trips to Redding involved impatience only when I'd get caught behind slow RVs with drivers admiring our mountain scenery — not that I blame them. Now, I find myself in the middle of a long string of cars, threading my way through cones and slow zones.

But I have a pretty good attitude about the mess. After all, I'm stuck in my air-conditioned vehicle while poor road workers and sign holders are dealing with broiling sun, steaming asphalt and graders so hot they could probably zap an egg.

The "old kids" who are coming back to Trinity County this week for the Fourth of July will see some results of that work as they head to reunions, parties and growing-up memories.

I know that a lot of 20-, 30- and 40-somethings will be coming to Weaverville (from as far away as Texas) because they're discussing it online at Facebook. They're probably tweeting about it, too, on Twitter, but I wouldn't know since I'm a twit who doesn't tweet. And they're certainly e-mailing and texting like mad.

With all the communication tools at hand, it's easy for these people to make plans to meet up when they get here. I see trouble ahead, as some of them are certain to want to relive those thrilling high school days of yesteryear — and now they're old enough to do all the things they couldn't get away with back then.

My husband and I had our own interesting trip home a few weeks ago in the middle of the night. Driving over Buckhorn, the moon was full but it was still pretty dark out there and we were on our own with just critters and trees.

As we crossed the Trinity County line and headed downhill, we saw an orange sign that read "One Lane Road Ahead," but we dismissed it at that late hour. Next came a warning of "Flagger Ahead." Somebody didn't do a very good of taking the signs down after a long workday, we thought. And then "Prepare to Stop." Yeah, sure.

But around the bend we saw a blaze of bright lights and a lonely figure in the middle of the road holding a "Stop" sign. This was a little too much like a bad B movie.

The young guy came over to the truck and said it would be about a three-minute wait for the pilot car. What? Sure enough, before long we were led across a torn-up section of roadway, and then we were on our way again.

So for all those folks heading home this weekend, getting here may be part of the adventure. And will they notice the misspelled "Roadway Realigment" sign (with a missing "n") on the Shasta side of 299? Nah. It probably looks a lot like all those odd text messages they're sending to each other.

Happy homecoming!