So I got on Wiki looking for the largest wildfires on record in California.  Wow, before Europeans arrived (pre-1800), when the area was much more forested and the ecology much more resilient, 4.4 million acres (1.8 million hectares) of forest and shrub-land burned annually.

The US Forest Service was established in 1905 to manage forests.  Along with human intervention to suppress fires, the number and size has been substantially decreased over the years.  The one pattern I can find is when Wiki lists out the 20 largest fires by year beginning with the 12th largest which occurred in 1932.  Sorted instead by date, the fire years align like this for the other 19 largest recorded fires.

1970
1977
2003
2006
2007
2007
2008
2008
2009
2012
2013
2017
2018
2018
2020
2020
2020
2020
2020

It's almost as if you graphed those dates to onto a chart you'd come up with

The fires for the most part stop at the Canadian border.  Antifa arsonists have been caught throughout Oregon.  Forest management (or the lack thereof) has changed drastically since environmental groups pressured CA politicians into changing policy in the late 80's (no management = more natural burns.

I'm looking for a 2nd bike. I only have 2 more payments and my Multi is paid off.  The 2020 Ninja is very appealing to me but will probably wait a year until I can save 2-3k off the MSRP of $12,399.

I doubt the Ninja will be as nimble as your Multistrada.  Meaning, you may have more difficulty beating out RPD in the slow races.  Why not just put that money into your Duc?  Assuming your selling or trading in the Multistrada.

I won't be test riding the Ninja 1000 or H2, as much as that sounds appealing.  I've ridden with those in various settings.  They're no faster than one of my newest ill-tuned $2,500 ZX9s, slower in the corners for sure.  I've often fancied the ZX-10R, but it's too harsh of a ride for street and lacks sport-touring capabilities.

Let us know how the test rides go.

Year after year, these fire seasons just keep getting worse!  The overnight lows are so hot, Reno feels more like the Central Valley of California.  WTF is wrong with Mother Nature?

It's one thing to fear contracting a virus that's out of control and having to go through a lockdown for that, but now waking up every morning is like waking up in an apocalypse.  If you go outside you risk your health on another level.  Is this life as we can expect it from now on?

We need to figure this out.  No more pretending this is normal or stupid cliche memes that bring out childish humor.  I only have one life.  I'M F-ING PISSED!  I've lived my whole life on the west coast.  This is not normal and whatever is going on is getting worse in a hurry.

Would be very bad to blow a turn.  Impressive.

I went into Kawasaki of Reno to view the new Ninja 1000SX which they didn't have, but they informed me that it will be part of the demo fleet that will be visiting Reno in a couple of weeks among other bikes like the H2.   They said Fri and Sat.  Looks like I will have to dismiss class early on Sat in order for me to catch the demo rides.  Check with them for updates.  This will probably be my next bike.

VR

I suppose I'm overreacting?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x28XRp6ToLo