Dust!

After four months of hanging in Texas, we've finally found our way out of our big ol' adopted home state. We spent a few days in Carlsbad, then made the climb to Santa Fe. When we pulled into our park on Friday evening, we were right behind friends Gene and Anne, whom we met back in Kerrville. What a pleasant surprise! We spent yesterday with them doing a quick tour of Old Town Santa Fe. We're so glad we get to spend a month here. This is definitely a place to "feast"!

Today's weather was warned about for days. So, we expected it to be windy. The entire state of New Mexico, along with much of the nation's midsection, was placed under a High Wind Advisory. Here in Santa Fe, sustained winds were expected to be 30 to 40 mph. Gusts were anticipated to be as high as 60 mph. And, since we're sitting in the high desert, blowing dust was included in the warning.

One of our first "to-dos" here in Santa Fe is to give the moose and squirrel a deep cleaning. Since leaving Kerrvile, we've been living in the land of dust. Try as we might to keep things clean, the dust always wins. To a naked eye, we've kept the place tidy enough. But, take a close look anywhere and you'll see dust. It's piling up in places we've never even thought to look. And, that's just the inside. We are a rolling testimony that Bullwinkle's exterior color scheme is the best dirt camouflage money can buy. Our moose is filthy, but he doesn't really look that bad! The squirrel is another story. Rocky is jet black. Or, he used to be. Now he's some shade of charcoal gray.

So, you get the idea. We really need to clean. Knowing that our second full day in Santa Fe was bringing high winds and blowing dust, we decided to hold off on that big chore until the weather literally blows through.

In our fulltiming life, we've never been in a dust storm. We had one dust in the wind day on our initial rental RV trip. It added a bit of novelty to our 10-day vacation. And, besides, it wasn't our RV. We didn't know enough to be terribly concerned.

Well, today, we get to put a big checkmark next to "Dust Storm" on our fulltiming agenda. All was extremely calm when we got up this morning. The high wind warning was scheduled to go into effect at 10AM. Before the appointed hour, Paul stored our outdoor stuff. Then, we waited.

The winds showed up right on schedule. We pulled our windward slide in about an hour later. It's the same slide that "popped" its topper in Kerrville, so we weren't taking any chances. Like kids who see lightning and count off the seconds until the thunder, we watched the dust come in from the southwest in waves and waited for them to sandblast the side of our 40-foot billboard. The cats slept through it all. And, of course, Paul was fine. Me? I kinda freaked.

Our scenic mountain view disappeared in a cloud of brown. The wind was constant. There were even a few raindrops thrown in to help the dirt stick to our vehicles. And, it went on for hours. Hours! Somewhere in there, Paul decided it might be a good idea for me to be in a big building where I couldn't hear or see the wind. Good call, Paul! We ventured out in the Jeep and did a little shopping. (And shopping is always good!) Getting out actually gave my rational mind time to convince the slightly crazy part of me that our 16-ton rolling home wasn't going anywhere. And, of course, it hasn't.

As the sun begins to set behind a cloud of dust, the winds have died down a bit. It's still pretty darn gusty out there. So, the slide will stay in for now. Things are supposed to be better tomorrow. We sure hope so.

Like I said, we have cleaning to do. And, you know what? It's amazing what happens when a motorhome spends a day surrounded by dust blowing in gale force winds. It gets even dustier. Really dusty!

By the looks of things around here, we'll be cleaning for awhile.