All the roads and highways are still closed and probably will be for the next week or more. There's a lot less traffic this morning. Maybe a lot of people started their commute several hours earlier to avoid the ball-up here in Aromas. I suspect a lot of people took the day off. It's a good thing because it's raining like crazy and is expected to do so all day. There was a traffic backup earlier but it's now looking more like a normal day of commuters.
The river here is back inside it's banks but the new rain might change that. Also, Hwy 129, the only open route into Watsonville, generally gets closed in the rain because of slides. There are a couple places where it follows the Pajaro River and is cut into the base of a cliff. The ground above that is fairly unstable and every year it covers the road in at least a couple places. It hasn't happened yet in these recent storms so it's due. If that happens, The only way to Watsonville is up Hwy 101, across the Santa Cruz Mountains via Hwy 17 and then through Santa Cruz along Hwy 1 Southward. That makes it about 90 miles (over a mountain highway that often gets closed in bad weather, too) to go to a town 8 miles away. Needless to say we won't be heading to Watsonville until another route is open. It would be a drag to get stranded over there when a slide blocks Hwy 129 and possibly even Hwy 17.
Yep, we're going to happily sit here and listen to the rain on the roof. If the rain lets up later, we'll take the dogs out for a stroll so they can sniff all the new smells. I think I hear a cup of cocoa calling me.
