I've been wondering if it was Susan Blake herself that picked up Ann Dunham Obama, her good high school friend, in San Francisco on a possible return flight from Kenya.
Susan says she was on vacation in Santa Cruz, about 30 miles south of SFO, in summer 1961 and left when the fires started. Shortly thereafter, she got a "surprise visit" from Ann in Seattle in late-August 1961, 3 weeks after Obama Jr's birth. I have to wonder if Ann and baby Obama weren't with Susan on the drive up from SFO to Seattle...
Anyone nail down a date range for the (forest?) fires that occurred near Santa Cruz in summer of 1961 of which Susan Blake spoke?
Excerpt:
Forests that are predominately redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens) are able to resist the effects of all but the most intense wildfires (Agee, 1993). Because it is the driest time of year, critical fire weather typically occurs in July through October. However, CalFire historical files for the Santa Cruz Mountains indicate that extreme fire conditions, including low humidity and high winds, have frequently occurred from August through early January. For example, in January 1961 six fires were recorded, several of which covered more than 1,000 acres...
(that’s all I have so far...)
Here is a link to a big fire on Mt. Umunhum in the Santa Cruz area in 1961. However it is dated July 26. This link includes a picture of the mountain with a huge smoke cloud.
http://historylosgatos.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/tem&CISOPTR=15&CISOBOX=1&REC=10
There were also articles in the Santa Cruz Sentinel dated July 20 and 21. I found them listed in a library of Santa Cruz history but I haven’t found the actual articles. There was also an article about a Scott’s Valley fire in mid-August. If Susan said she left “when the fires started” that would in my mind mean the Mt. Umunhum fire and that would put a significant dent into her memory of when she had her visit with Stanley.