Thursday, January 21, 2010

What is Dessert, Winds, Rain, RV & Roads ?

Answer - Name five things that does not make a good combination.

DSC_0434

Sorry, this is the best picture I could get under these conditions. This was taken after the water had receded on our trip back from Yuma (car).

And the rest of the story is…….

Carol & I had to go to Yuma early (6AM) to pick up some rally items.  Boy oh boy.  Yes it was raining.  Going south on state road 95 we ran into about six water crossings.  One was probably about 8-10 inches deep and I think it was going faster than we were.  I think my seat has new stains.  Well, we get down to Yuma and did our shopping.  Then the winds kicked up like really bad.  They closed down the big flea market in Yuma and started closing schools because of the current wind/rain and expected rain/wind.  Then we unofficially heard that state road 95 was closed.  We started heading back (north).  No south bound traffic.  That was a sign.  About 20 miles into the trip we saw this very very very very long line of vehicles and they were coming south.  To me that meant the road is now open and it was.  We get back to camp safely but a little wet from our adventure down south.  It was still raining and the wind was picking up.  About 2-3 PM someone turned on the friggin outside fan full blast and it was bad.  We heard that 3 tractor trailers had  turned over in nearby Blythe.  The winds were probably in the 40 mph range with long gusts way above that.  The radio reported gusts up to 90 mph and we believe it.  Everybody put in their slides and hunkered down.  We had some en route people call us and wanted how the weather was.  We told them not to move and to hunker down because it was real bad.  It rocked our rig the most we have ever been rocked in over 35 years of RVing.  It was that bad by anyone’s account!  About 5 or so the worst was over and a few daring souls went out to look around.    Anything outside had moved around but was within a days walk.  You know, it makes this year a memorable year. The ole, “Oh yea I was their for that!” will be heard for years to come.  

Oh, no pictures because I wasn’t even thinking about going outside much less with a camera.  We did have a couple of later arrivals. They said they were glad they hunkered down earlier and all is safe.

Thursday night wasn’t quite as bad. Our slides were in and the datastorm satellite dish was put down again before bedtime (9PM).  The sun is not up yet but Friday will bring us all together to compare stories.  It’s a great lifestyle….See Ya..

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