Principles of Fog Walking

We've had fog for the last week.

Some days it's been fog in the morning, fog that seems so thick it could stop a Mac truck. Yesterday on the way to work it was that kind of fog. Then last night it was fog which seemed to start at ground level, go up to about ten feet and stop... with a clear layer of air, and then at about 50 feet more fog. It rained all night when the temperature dropped. Again there was fog this morning. It was on the river, you could see it going over the river bridge. It was beautiful. The water was calm on the river, and I wished I had my rain suit on and was paddling one of my kayaks out there instead of going to work.

I've always had a fascination with fog.

Be it because of "The Mist" by Stephen King, or another story that I can't recall where a traveler crosses from his hotel to the bar across the street to find that the bartender tells him a story about how when the fog is thick the lines between worlds blur and you might not want to go out because you might end up in a different world than the one you started in (I always LOVED that story).

I've only had one car with foglamps, that was my Mercury Cougar. Driving home in the fog last night I played with the lights on the truck. No lights, dark as pitch. The fog stopped all vision. Low beams were better, and high beams were useless. I know fog lamps aim low, sometimes I wish I had those on the truck.

I've been wondering if falling snow impedes sound, and I found a journal paper from the late 1800's which proved that theory. Related to that I guess fog would have a similar effect. It would distort sound as much as vision.

Anyway, I've done some mental reflecting on fog this week... I think life is like a fog sometimes. Your vision is distorted, blocked, you can't see far ahead... nor are there many audible indicators on where you're going. Either the sun cooks the fog off, and things become clear... or it rains and the fog clears. Personally I prefer the sun, but sometimes it's nice to have the rain to wash things clean.