Cheryl Renner

This is a quick trip to Myrtle Beach to give a speech on regulation for wildfire mitigation at the semi-annual Backyards & Beyond Conference. I arrived on Wednesday, flying from Tampa to Charlotte to Wilmington, NC, and driving south to Myrtle Beach. Checked into the hotel and quickly changed into a bathing suit and went out to the beach while the sun was still shining. It's mid-October, but the ocean is still about 72 degrees and a little bit rough. I jumped waves for a little while and then took a nap on the beach. Got a little color, but not too much.

Then I realized that I hadn't eaten all day, so I stopped at a place called Joe's and had a bbq pork sandwich and a beer. Back to the hotel, and changed to appropriate attire to attend the opening reception at the Sheraton for the conference. I was surprised to see Patty Blankenship there. We sat and caught up for a while. Then it was back to the hotel for the night.

Thursday I packed up my suitcase and headed out to my next hotel, the Hampton Inn at Broadway at the Beach. Then off to the conference for lunch and some wildfire education. Dinner with Patty and Teresa Vonn at a place called Rooster's. Then back to the hotel to work on my speech.

Friday started out slow as I got in the car and spilled coffee on the outfit I selected to wear for my talk. Had to go back in and change. Then to the venue to set up in the room. I was impressed with the number of people who attended my talk. We shared horror stories about trying to enact regulations and the public's reaction. I was not alone! After my talk, I watched Patty's. Good to see slides relating to the Cohesive Strategy. I thought, "I put those semi-colons and commas in the complex vision statement, and I selected those photos for the cover of the document." OK, so I'm not very powerful, but I do take pride in my work. And then the reward, a glass of red wine while Jack Cohen explains why the houses burn down behind green vegetation, and how simply that can be prevented. Years of work, and we still can't get that message across!Read more