SOUTH RIM GIVEN TO THE WIND

Thank goodness I have a floppy hat with a chin strap, but the wind was even worse than the day before. At Tunnel overlook,  above,  I managed to take one picture.  Neither of us would even try the chiseled steps down into the canyon to see the tunnel for fear of being blown off balance. When I opened the door to the Bronco, the wind pulled out of my hand so fiercely, I couldn’t get it closed. Then, when I returned to the Bronco, while closing the door, the wind wrenched it so hard the arm-rest handle broke.

Tsegi Overlook was close by.  The haze at the back of the canyon is dust raised by wind.  This time Jim backed the Bronco into a parking spot so the wind couldn’t slam the door open.

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Driving the short distance to our third stop,  Junction Overlook, the road in front of us was billowing with dust.  Grit scalded my bare legs where I stood on the rim.

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We were out for about 30 minutes. The overlooks were close to each other, but the next one was nine miles away. We decided to call it a day. And glad we were. We returned to spend the rest of the day, doing more tin can rock and roll. Winds blew a steady 60 miles per hour all day with gusts of 70 to 75. Green branches were blown off trees in the park,  one of them hit the motor home. Sand skittered in waves across the paved areas.  The extremely fine dust filtered in through every crack  putting a fine particulate on the fruit in the bowl, our computers, floors and every surface. It seemed unreal. We are told the weather for our jeep tour today will be better. The tour is called Shake And Bake because it is hot in the canyon and the roads are bumpy. We’ll try to finish the South Rim overlooks on Monday.

Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico…

A few days back I wrote about the Elephant Butte Dam…
http://wp.me/pDCku-4by

Which created Elephant Butte Lake…
http://wp.me/pDCku-4c7

Along the west side of the lake…Elephant Butte State Park, over about ten miles, has about a dozen campgrounds…most of them are primitive with no utilities.

Yesterday I moved the motorhome from the Moose Lodge in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico the about five miles to the State Park. I’ll spend only one night. I came to primarily dump my waste tanks, fill my fresh water tank and take a nice long hot shower. After last Saturday’s wind/dust storm I also cleaned the window glass inside and out as well as the solar panels on the motorhome roof.

I’m parked in what I consider the best view site in the state park. I’m situated on an overlook near the park entrance…about 300 feet elevation about the lake.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...

Here’s the view through the dinette window…

Another view…

And a panorama view…

Then three Google Earth views…

There are about six overlook sites…each with a three-sided protective shelter…

that have a metal picnic table inside…

that gives a great view of the lake…

People park their RV’s right along the lake shore so they can pull their watercraft onshore nearby their rigs…

When I scouted out this park Easter weekend there were several hundred RV’s parked along the lake shore. The roadways down to there are not well marked…so much so that I got the Bronco into some loose sand and had to put it into 4 wheel drive to get moving again. A local told me that the local tow truck drivers do a lively business retrieving stuck vehicles. They’re not going to get my business…I’m staying on solid ground up on the overlook!

A lovely sunny day of 70 degrees with a gentle breeze made it a delightful stay.

Here’s the state park’s official website link…
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/prd/elephant.htm

Today I’ll head out and start wandering north towards Albuquerque where I’m hopefully going to meet up Mary in about 10 days.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Rocking And Rolling All Day Long…

I’m still parked at the Moose Lodge in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico where yesterday’s weather forecast was for sunny and very windy. It did not disappoint!

The wind actually came up Friday afternoon…got up to a steady 25-35 miles per hour during the night. As daylight came on the velocity increased to a steady 45-55 miles per hour with MANY frequent gusts in excess of 70 miles per hour. Since the motorhome was parked facing west and the wind was out of the south…it became rock and roll time as the wind was hitting the motorhome broadside.

The soil here is hard-packed sandy and with the wind whipping across the parking lot…it sounded like the motorhome was being sand-blasted as it rocked and rolled!

I tried to capture a photo of sand whipping across the parking lot…but because of the smallness of sand particles and the velocity they were moving…this is the best photo I came up with…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...

By 1:00 PM the wind had shifted to the southwest and I was now being hit at a 45 degree angle on the left front and side of the motorhome. and it was really rocking and rolling. If I wasn’t an ex-sailor…I probably would have suffered from dry-land sea sickness!

Enough of this! I had to do something! The gusts were so strong I thought it might blow the motorhome on its side!

Ah-ha…I knew what to do. I decided to back up the motorhome to the side of the Moose Lodge where I would be in the lee of the building and kind-sorta away from the wind.

The Moose lodge had held a blood drive that morning and the bloodmobile had the better position of being nearer the building…but it at least help reduce my rocking and rolling.

Here’s a closer view of the flag ripping in the wind. It was at a 90 degree straight out position all day long…

As the afternoon wore on the wind came around to the west and now it was hitting the motorhome directly in the front. In doing so the rocking and rolling became less active. The wind continued into the night until it finally subsided. This morning the wind is gone and I’ll move the motorhome back to its pre-wind parking spot. I’ll be moving on tomorrow morning.

The locals told me that strong winds are a normal occurrence in the Spring in New Mexico. They told me that last year it was really bad…blowing for weeks at a time. I’m sure glad I wasn’t here then! I’ve been in New Mexico for about six weeks now and this is the third time I’ve been exposed to really strong winds. Enough already!

Also later this morning I’ll break out the vacuum and do some cleaning…there’s dust everywhere inside of the motorhome! Enough already!

There’s a saying…”some days are diamonds and some days are dust”. Yesterday was a really dusty one for me!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

A Final Look At Rockhound State Park, Deming, New Mexico

I’ve been here for ten nights and the high winds and colder temperatures are finally gone and it’s time for me to roll along. I thought I’d share with you a final look of this nice state park…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...

Approaching the park from about two miles away…

A closer view where the abundant pansy flowers cover the mountain side…

Through the magic of Google Earth a beautiful view of the Little Florida Mountains. X marks my campsite location…

Last Sunday we had sustained 45-50 mile per hour winds…with frequent gusts to 70+ miles per hour. To show the effects of that wind…compare the next two photos which are or less the same photos. This first on was taken on March 12th…with no wind…

And next on Sunday March 18th with winds gusting to 70+ miles per hour.  On the valley floor its blowing sand…up higher the resulting dust obscures the background mountains so that they are barely seen…

And how about just one more spectacular desert sunset photo…

Finally a Deming, New Mexico sunrise (about ten miles distant) as seen through the windshield of the motorhome…

The desert is such an awesome place. It’s been a very enjoyable stay at this scenic New Mexico State Park.

Today’s destination is City of Rocks State Park.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Seeing The Sights Near Revere, Massachusetts

Jim says:

Yesterday Mary and I took the Bronco to see some of the sights along the Atlantic Coast North of Revere. In addition to Revere we went through Lynn, Nahant, Swampscott, Marblehead and Salem.

Here are a few things we saw…
On Revere Beach we saw about one dozen sculptures remaining from the 75th Revere Beach Sand Sculpting Contest held last weekend.

In Nahant we saw kids diving off of these rocks into the water the same way my buddies and I did more than 50 years ago.

There were several hundred boats anchored in beautiful Marblehead Harbor.

In Salem, Mary the witch got boiled in oil.

Back in Revere in the late afternoon I enjoyed the world’s best pizza at DeMaino’s. They are a fifth generation restaurant in the same location for more than 75 years. As teenagers more than 50 years ago my friends and I enjoyed the pizza at Demaino’s. Yeah, Yeah…I know I had pizza yesterday and it was good, but I cannot come to Revere and not have a DeMaino’s Pizza! Mary enjoyed Chicken Parmigiana.

Te see the other 15 photos I took, click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/072310#

Today we will drive the motorhome and Bronco to Southeastern New Hampshire.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2009
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com