Windy Days on the Road

The wind blows my hat off all the time in Utah. The wind whips through the mountains, ravines, and valleys.  The views of the snow blowing from the mountain peaks is breathtaking.

It is that time of year when the March winds blow.  I remember our stay in Carrizozo, New Mexico in 2009.  I didn't know how strong the wind could blow there.  It had sustained winds of 60 mph for days.  I wanted to go to a motel, but instead decided to ride it out at the campground.  We left the camper hooked to the truck to try to help the stability.  I never felt in danger but was that camper rockin'!

March, April, and May are storm months in the Midwest.  While here in the west, we experience the winds and then watch them head east and turn into severe weather.  

Wind and heat do a number on our tires. We should own stock in a tire company!

With 24 vehicles tires and 36 additional tires on ATVs, UTV, and bikes, we really watch wind, temperature, and pressure!  As the spring winds starting to stir, we will plan our travel days around decent temps and low wind speed.  While driving across Kansas, we watched our camper go at a slight angle behind us.  The wind was pushing so strong that it was hard to keep her going straight.  Add high temperatures, about 108 degrees, and there is a recipe for a large expense - all new tires.

An unexpected storm with straight line winds hit our camper early
in the morning and ripped our awning off.

Straight line winds in the Midwest in the spring makes us feel like we are going over!  Shae always calms me down by reminding me just how much this camper can withstand.  All our jacks down helps us to hang on tight to the ground.  Sadly, this storm snuck up on us early in the morning and ripped our awning right off.  And, to add insult to injury, the awning ended up landing on our van door and side mirror and put a big scratch down the side.  We ended up not replacing the awning.  Our cousin gave us an easy up from her craft show days. I actually like it better!  We can take it places with us and also move it when the sun moves.

The wind at the Colombia River Gorge in Washington
State gave us snarls that took a long time to comb out!

It was an awesome sight to see the snow blowing from the tops
of the mts around us in Marysvale, Utah.

When we arrived at a campground in Dublin, Texas, we noticed everyone had tarps tied to their picnic table pavilions.  It only took a day to realize it was to help block the almost non-stop winds in the spring that blow across that massive state.  We bought more tarps and tied them up and things were much better.  After a couple of weeks we got used to the wind and didn't let it stop us from our many adventures.

Major Problems As We Try To Leave Missouri

7-11-09
It was about 6:00 in the morning and we were asleep in bed when a typical Missouri storm came out of nowhere. We woke to the sound of large hail hitting the roof and the wind whipping around our awning. Shae jumped out of bed, slipped on some clothes, and ran to put the awning in . In that short amount of time he was too late. The wind had bent the frame of the awning and ripped the material part of the awning from the camper. There was no hope of fixing it, so much hardware was bent and broken. Cody got up and went out to see what had happened and if he could help Shae. The guys were checking this out and lighting was striking all around us. I asked them to come inside and wait until morning to fix it, but you know them, they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do, so they stayed out in the lightning storm. Later on that morning, Shae looked over the awning and decided that we needed to take it off because it would not ride well down the road like it was. He got up on the roof to reach the higher parts of the hardware and Cody stood below holding on to one of the poles. When Shae disconnected one side of the awning it fell and hit the side of our van. Thank goodness it hit the passenger side mirror. The mirror pushed into the side of the door and the awning slide down the door and left a nice dent and scraped the paint all the way down to the metal. In all it’s about 2,000 dollars worth of damage. Shae came in and told me about the awning falling down on the van and we both just busted out laughing. What else could we do but laugh? Shae had enough forethought to take pictures of the mangled awning against the van before putting it up so maybe the insurance will cover it. I told Shae maybe we should stay home the rest of the day and not do anything so nothing else would break. But, we decided to try to leave..
Sheri