Homeowner's Insurance...hopefully

First ride back from my extended "rest". Amazing to see the drop in fitness with Cyclingpeaks when you're sick and can't get in the miles you'd like over the holidays. However, the legs feel great and I should have fun climbing San Bruno on New Year's Day.

On my way back I decided to take a detour in Almaden Valley. A few days ago there was a huge fire at a local home. I've ridden by this house once before and was amazed at how big it was. Today the feeling in my gut was a bit different...
Rolling up to the house nothing looked too out of the ordinary, but as you turn up the road on the north side you start to see the damage. The front of the house is just a false facade to the fire's destruction toward the back. I've got a friend who fought the fires down in the San Diego area this summer so I can only imagine the magnitude of what he experienced. For me, this was pretty chilling...

So often I take for granted all the small things that I've accumulated over the years. You know, those small things that trigger memories of past events you've shared with family and friends. Pictures of Paris with the wife, random trinkets from Manilla and plenty of refrigerator magnets from around the world. These poor owners have lost all of this, and that sucks!

What really caught me off-guard as I was taking in the whole scene was the number of other people randomly driving by and checking this out too. There must have been at least five cars that drove up, stopped, stared and then moved on over the course of the three minutes I was there. I wonder what was going through their minds; hopefully no jerks murmuring, "Karma's a bitch..." That's just wrong!