The KOA Weather Station In Van Horn, TX
When we arrived in Van Horn, Texas for the night the first thing we saw was the KOA weather report. With where the rock was positioned on the board, I just thought they didn’t bother doing the forecast lately. Boy was I wrong.
We knew we were in for some high winds. On our way to Van Horn the winds started picking up. We arrived around 1pm and took one look at our vehicle and coach. This is what our car looked like before the winds kicked into high gear.
You can imagine what it looked like the next day after it got pummeled by the sand storm.
Our Poor Car Caked In Dirt and Dust.
We also were lucky enough to pick up a lovely chip in the windshield. So David got out his windshield repair kit and went to work. I must say, we had another chip in the windshield last year that we had a repair guy fix. David did a much better job with the kit he bought at Walmart. We would never be without one of these repair kits. They come in handy and are pretty easy to use. The key to a good repair…patience and the sun. You need the sun to cure the liquid to the windshield. So make sure that when you are repairing your windshield you are facing the sun. We. sorry to say, were not. So after David fixed the windshield, we had to close up the rig and move into the sun for 15 minutes. Then go back to our site and re-set up all over again. What a pain.
David Looking At The Chip In The Windshield
As you saw from the previous post and David’s video, the wind got pretty intense. We’ve never been through anything like that before. And hopefully we can avoid it in the future. This is what the sky looked like before it got bad. I was still able to jump outside to take this picture with little wind protection.
And the mountains start to disappear in the background as the dirt and dust start flying.
The Sky Starting To Look More Ominous
Mountains Starting To Disappear From The Dirt & Dust Flying Around
That night when the wind gusts started to get up to 65 MPH, we decided to put our main living room slide in for the night. We were fearful of our slide topper being ripped off from the high winds. So this is what our rig looked like, with the main slide in, for the night. The cats were a little confused as to what was going on. But that did not stop them from sleeping all night. We had to leave a light on for Tasha in case she got up in the middle of the night. We didn’t want her running into anything unnecessarily. The sheets and towels all over the floor are because of another Tasha issue that we won’t go into. Let’s just say we’ll all get old someday.
The wind died down about 4am. I know this because we hardly slept all night because of the noise and rocking of the rig. We were not sure if we could leave that morning as they were calling for more high winds throughout the day. We woke up to a beautiful sun rise and no wind. We got out of this dust bowl area and headed down the street. Hoping for nicer weather at our next location.
Our Rig With The Main Slide In For The Night
Sun Rise Coming Over The Mountains
Hoohee…now y’all know what them cowpokes faced when movin them herds in the days of old! Just imagine gittin them dogies along, tryin to keep ’em from stampeedin through them dust storms with nothin but yer 10 gallon hat, a good horse under yer saddle and yer kerchief coverin yer nose and mouth. Yessir, them longhorns were a-fearful and times was sure tense. Why, the chuckwagon cook couldn’t even keep a fire a-goin in them winds, so the dang beans was cold…yep took the fun right outta bein a cowboy, times like that. Hoohee! Winnin the West was a challenge, let me tell you!
Now…you have to protect all that dang technology…sure is different…sliding rooms, satellite dishes, air conditioners air vents, etc. It is so much different rocking in a motor home instead of a saddle…but it kind of makes you appreciate those that went boldly before you more, huh? I am glad that you seem to have come through it ok…hope your car and MH are not too pitted!
I love you all…hugs to Tasha for facing the miasma alongside you!
xoxoxo
Wow!!! I do not envy you guys. We had to pull in our slides in one time because of a dust storm in Moab. I kind of feel bad for David; he has to clean all that dust off both the coach & car! I bet he did it the first opportunity he got too! (I’m right there with you David!)
Oh, the Blue Beacon Truck Wash was a stop that had to me made, and was. $44 well spent to wash the RV and the car! David was very happy seeing they used filtered water that was a spot free when it dried. So all David had to do was touch ups. YEA!!!!!
That’s awesome! David, I understand you! I refuse to believe I have OCD but I do like my stuff clean and uncluttered. ;) Although I must say that being on the road/living in an RV, I’m not as up tight about things.