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The morning of Sunday, Oct 26, 2003 we awoke to a phone call from a friend in the Lakeside area needing to evacuate
horses due to a fire. Bill wasted no time hooking up our trailer and heading South, but the roads were already closed.
We had no idea there were 3 large fires combining to be the worst in San Diego's history! As the freeway was closed
too, he decided to stop by the stables at MCAS Miramar, where we boarded our horses prior to Bill's retirement
from the Marine Corps. About that time, the fire actually jump Hwy 15 (at least 13 lanes wide) adjacent to the
stables. Bill helped evacuate 100+ horses, taking them to the baseball field on base at Miramar.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (as they say), several horse trailers were pulling up our driveway and a man leaned out
and said "we're bringing you 100 head of horses from Valley Center!" With only 2-1/2 acres and 4 horses of our own,
a brief moment of panic struck me! But we immediately started to off load the horses into our 2 pastures. I quickly
called my neighbors and told them I was volunteering their open acreage to house horses! A big thanks to my neighbors
Kathleen Cook, Zell Jovanic, Bryan Keith (& Jorge too!), and especially Annie & Mike McCormick for helping us
provide temporary housing for 60+ horses here in Eden Valley/Harmony Grove for over a week. The selflessness in which
people volunteered their time and resources was truely awesome to witness!
We are happy to report that Showcase Horse Center in Valley Center survived the fire and all the horses are back home
again! Here are a few pictures we've collected from our adventures.
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