The Blitz West, Part 5: Our Travelversary Takes a Dangerous Turn as We're Blown Off Course
Strong winds seem to be a running theme these days. We're not surprised, as this region of the US gets pretty windy, but we were not expecting to be pushed to our limits on our final stretch to Arizona. It all started the day before we left Las Cruces. We were checking the weather apps all week, noting that a windstorm was coming in Tuesday into Wednesday. We were scheduled to leave on Wednesday. Tuesday brought gusts in the 50mph range, and since we were perched on a hill at our KOA, we were feeling the shimmying of the rig. We watched in awe and terror as RV after RV came and left the campground like it was just another day, but this is New Mexico. 50mph winds are pretty typical. We weren't sure what the next day would bring, but in addition to the winds, we heard that many parts of the country were in for some storms, including Arizona. The northern parts of AZ were bracing for snow, while the southern parts would get rain. We were headed to Tucson, where the forecast was rain and wind, but a little less wind than was predicted for Las Cruces. We figured if we could get on the road early and head west, we could escape the winds and be OK.
When we got up in the morning, the winds weren't too bad. We packed up as usual. It wasn't until Anthony went outside to disconnect our hookups that the gusts really started picking up. There were a few times that he could barely open our RV door when he was walking in and out. We had a choice to make. Thinking back to our departure from Lockhart State Park in Texas, we knew we could try staying put for another night, or we could hit the road and see how it goes. I did what I always do: Check the sustained wind speeds, the gust speeds, and the wind direction. The speeds were not looking good. Potentially 70mph, which we would never want to drive in. But the direction would mostly give us a headwind, which is the best case for driving in these conditions. We wouldn't really know how bad the conditions were until we could get off the hill and onto the interstate.
As we hitched up, we were already questioning our decision, but I-10 was only a couple minutes away. We could just get on the highway and see how it feels. At first, it wasn't so bad. The winds were similar to what we faced that day we left Lockhart. We were even getting some laughs out of the number of tumbleweeds what went rolling across the highway. But soon that laughter turned to nervousness. The winds were picking up and the gusts were shoving against our RV. The headwind wasn't direct; it was more hitting us diagonally. Buggy continued to handle things like a champ. We had no swaying or fishtailing. Anthony kept his hand on the trailer brake in just in case. The worst part was whenever we had trucks pass us, which was often. We were going about 55mph in a 75mph. A truck would pass, temporarily blocking the winds from reaching us, but then wham! The gusts pushed around the truck and buffeted us with way more force than we ever want to feel when traveling.
Even though we trusted our rig to stay the course, the whole situation was incredibly stress-inducing and mentally taxing. I started watching for other RVs to see who else was crazy enough to be on the road, and I only saw one motorhome and one other travel trailer. This is New Mexico, during February vacation week. There should normally be more RVs on the road.
Ah yes, New Mexico. You know what happens in New Mexico when it's windy? Dust storms. Suddenly being knocked off-kilter was only one of our worries. Off in the distance we saw clouds of dust, and they were getting worse. We still had decent visibility, but already some of the dirt was making its way across the highway. Dust storms can get very dangerous very quickly. I immediately shut off our AC (don't know why it was on anyways; it was cool out) and made sure our air was recirculating. Dust coming in through the vents is not only risky for the truck, but also for our lungs. Our lights and hazards were already on, but if the storms got worse, we'd need to be prepared to pull over to the shoulder of the road and shut everything off. With dust storms, the rule is, if you're moving, turn your lights and hazards on so cars behind you can see you. If you pull over (which you should if possible), get as far over as you can and shut off your lights. This way other cars won't see your lights, think you're moving and then rear-end you.
We knew we wanted to get off the next exit, if for nothing else to just calm our nerves for a bit, but the next exit wasn't going to be for 16 miles. We had to just go as slow and safely as possible. I checked the apps continuously, noting that where we were headed was starting to look worse. If we didn't get off soon, we'd be hitting off-the-chart wind gusts.
We entered the town of Deming and initially had plans to go to the center of town, where our GPS was listing several gas stations and truck stops, but we accidentally got off the first exit when most of the services were off the second. This exit didn't have much, but we were able to squeeze into a Chevron that had signs specifically stating not to park by the pumps if you're not pumping gas. We couldn't really fit anywhere else, so we went to the pumps and took the opportunity to top off on gas (we're supposed to be filling frequently anyway) while we brainstormed our next plan of action. I looked around for potential places we could park. There were a few hotels but otherwise slim pickings...except for one sign across the street that said Dream Catcher RV Park. We weren't planning on getting off the road for the whole rest of the day, but the high wind warnings were in effect until 8pm. Maybe calling it a day wasn't a bad idea. I looked up Dream Catcher RV Park just to see what it was all about. Turns out it's a well-rated Escapees park. Escapees is an RVer membership which we happen to be members of. We knew they had parks around, but we had never seen or been to one. We took it as a sign and scooted across the street to see if they had availability.
We left the pets for a few minutes to go inside and talk to the office manager. A few other RVers were in the building, which also houses the clubhouse. They heard why we were there and immediately wanted updates on the road conditions. One man said he was supposed to leave later that day, but our story convinced him to stay put. We all agreed that it's not worth our safety to battle these types of storms. The hospitality at this park was top notch. The manager gave us a large pull-thru site so we didn't need to unhitch, and she told us that they were flexible with checkout and that we could stay as late as we needed to the next day.
I let Anthony finish up registration while I went back out to the truck to be with the animals. Right after I got back, my phone started beeping with this alert:
Wow. We've been in a lot of crazy weather so far this year, but we hadn't yet gotten an actual phone alert. This was serious. It seemed like a sign that we did the right thing by stopping at the RV park. Had we gotten back on the highway and left Deming, it would have been another 13 miles before the next exit which would have only had a couple of gas stations, and another 60 miles until real civilization. If the dust storms got as bad as the alert was predicting, we wouldn't have made it.
I don't think I had ever been so relieved to pull into a no frills gravel parking spot in my life. The winds were picking up strength, so I quickly got the pets safely into the RV while Anthony put down the stabilizer jacks. Well, I may have done one other thing when the opportunity struck. I can't help myself. I'm a New England girl in the Southwest and all this is very novel to me. Also, these tumbleweeds (or in the case of this giant one, a tumble tree) are super thorny and there was no way I wanted to let that thing scratch up the truck or rig. I was taking one for the team!
We had full hookups but didn't need them, so Anthony just plugged in our electric. About 3 minutes later, the power went out. Figures. But we didn't care. Dream Catcher RV was our safe haven.
How fitting that this crazy, stressful travel day also happened to be our 1-year travelversary. We were expecting to celebrate by completing our blitz west, entering Arizona, and settling in at a gorgeous spot among the saguaros. Instead, we traumatized us and the pets, had the longest shortest travel day of our lives, and ended up at a park on the side of the highway, with no power. It was actually the perfect opportunity to pride ourselves on how far we've come the past year. On February 22, 2022, we were overwhelmed by stress just leaving Massachusetts and setting out on the road. Fast forward a year and we handled this unsafe situation by staying as calm as possible, making quick and smart choices, and utilizing all the know-how we've accumulated over the past year. Our year of experience definitely helped us in this situation.
Once in our trailer, it took us a while to settle down. We were happy to no longer be in motion, but the winds were strong. My apps were saying sustained winds at 45mph with gusts over 80mph. This was enough to cause major turbulence in our trailer. The air was also really eerie, with the dust causing the clouds to be brown in color. Finally, after a couple of hours, the wind started to die down and the skies started to clear, and even dropped a few raindrops on us that resulted in a rainbow outside our window.
We could finally breathe a little easier. We had a wonderful live stream with family and friends to celebrate our travelversary, and after we signed off, the electricity came back and the weather calmed enough for us to finally head outside and explore the RV park with Tanner. While we were walking, Anthony talked about the feeling of knowing we're exactly where we need to be. He said he felt that way about this park. I agree.
We woke up the next morning to calmer, sunny weather and finally set out on our final stretch of our blitz west. We were so close! Hopefully nothing else would get in our way.