Crossing three states in a stiff crosswind

So before you are brought up-to-date on today’s events I must first (Joan is making me) retract a little thing I said at the end of yesterday’s report. Hopefully, you haven’t run out and purchased a bunch of classic country CDs for Joan.

"Wheee, we're in Texas"

My misguided comment about her loving classic country music was simply a loyalty test to see if she actually read through the entire post. I can assure you now that she does read the posts from top to bottom and no, she is not a fan of classic country music. For goodness sakes don’t send it to her or I’ll be sleeping in the little white shed in my backyard for a long, long time.

Our unblemished record for bringing weird weather continues. Longtime readers of the blog will remember that when we visited the Florida Keys, the weather was historically cold. We brought torrential rains to both the Panhandle of Florida one year and to San Antonio, Texas the next. Until we arrived both places had been suffering from extended drought.

Joan was thinking of her friend when she saw this truck

So this week we left Michigan in the midst of unprecedented cold weather and it followed us all the way to St. Louis, where they had an unusual snow storm that closed schools and businesses on the day we were there. Last year downtown Tucson had its first measurable snowstorm in 20 years and we took a bow.

This morning in Oklahoma City the weatherman was sputtering about a strange combination of fog, wind and rain. Of course, we were there. You want bad weather, invite us.

But for us the weather at our time of departure was relatively pleasant with a 46-degree temperature despite the high winds and fog.

As we traveled west on I-40 the weather, ironically, cleared up at Weatherford, Oklahoma. I know you are not supposed to explain irony, but in this case we didn’t want you to miss the good weather connection and the town of Weatherford.

Our favorite Amarillo restaurant

I did want to make a suggestion to GM on future car builds. When we start up the Tahoe and the weather is 35 degrees or less, a warning shows up on the dashboard “Ice Possible Drive With Caution.”  This past week when the temperatures were really in the basement I thought maybe there should be an alternate warning: “Ice Probable – Stay Home.”

On our way out of Oklahoma we passed by the Elk City/Clinton KOA where we have stayed on two previous travels through the state. We have fond memories of the place and the nice people who helped us fix our trailer when we suffered an electrical problem.

Gas prices continue to be decent at $2.89 to $3.05 along I-40.

"Wheee we're in New Mexico"

At our first bathroom stop for Joan this morning she came out of the restroom giggling, but she wouldn’t tell me what she was amused by until we got into the car. As it turned out she and another woman were using the women’s room at the service station and when they came out of their respective stalls they found a Hispanic man washing his hands in the sink. “Is this the Women’s Room?,” he asked. “Yes, we believe it is,” the women told the man. Apparently there was some language barrier or he was confused, but no one was harmed and he expressed his surprise with a “Dios Mio!”

We recorded our first 50-degree temperature at Mile Marker 88 in Texas, but it came with a mixed problem. Some of the highest winds we have ever encountered while driving. Almost every time we have driven through Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico we encounter winds, but today was a “Katie bar the door” kind of wind. The stiff crosswind significantly reduced our gas mileage and made driving a pink knuckled affair.

Hard to see, but a haboob is in the background

The high winds continued through all of Texas and almost the entire width of New Mexico. It doesn't help that the only thing on the horizon to stop the wind is barbed wire and utility lines. 

At one point we were looking at the possibility of a minor haboob, which is neither as sexy or fun as the word sounds. Haboobs are intense dust storms and can create serious problems on the freeway. Joan, always one to see things through rose colored glasses, said her sunglasses made dust storm appear pink.

Tumbleweeds were flying at us in huge numbers or as we called it, “the attack of the tumbleweeds.” As we ran over them they became more like “crumble weeds.”

But one of the more unusual sights of the day came at a service station in the middle of an Indian Reservation in New Mexico. Stopping for a leg stretch I noticed a teenage Native American boy wearing the controversial emblem of the Washington Redskins. It caught my attention because so much has been made of how racially insensitive the mascot is and yet here was a young man who apparently embraced it.

The moon, but with plants

As we pulled out of the service station, the young man climbed into a car with people we could only assume were his family and on the back of the car was the same Redskins emblem. It just seemed odd that a Native American would be wearing a symbol that others see as racially insensitive.

Today we crossed the Continental Divide in New Mexico at an altitude of 7,275 feet. We also once again crossed through one of my favorite counties: “Deaf Smith County” in New Mexico. More appropriate this year as I am breaking in a new pair of hearing aids.

A 10-hour drive will sometimes make me a little feisty and today Joan made a comment that some of the landscape in New Mexico looked like “the moon.”

“Yes, honey,” I said. “But I don’t think the moon has plants.”  For that the former science teacher gave me a playful slap on my arm.

We had a hankering for Italian food and went to Fratelli's Italian Bistro. We both had the spaghetti with meatballs and it had a wonderful spicy sauce. Lots of ethnic folks in the place, but not an Italian to be seen.

Tomorrow – Tucson.

Mileage out: 68093

Time out: 8 a.m. (CST)

Mileage in: 68776

Time in: 5:02 p.m. (MST)