Day 4: Albuquerque..Where the wind comes SWEEPING DOWN YOUR PLAINS!!!

First let me talk about the hike thru Palo Duro Canyon before we left. How awesome. INCREDIBLY awesome. We hiked two miles on a trail, saw some beautiful wild flowers. And the canyon walls are not describable in words. Once, as we strolled along in the quiet canyon, there was a small mound of rocks that was homage to an Indian, I forget his name, KaWekala or something, and it said if we rubbed the stones it would bring us good luck. So we all rubbed the stones. In one of those pensive moments you can have with your children, I asked Anthony didn't he feel more like an Indian now. He said emphatically NO..He said he didn't want to be more like an Indian anyway...they were always running arouond half naked. :) Apparantly, we rubbed the rocks the wrong way that day, because the peace and serenity of the canyon was quickly overturned for the windstorm that lay ahead of us and we drove thru.
Oh my gosh…I have towed thru hurricane Arlene, and I have NEVER towed thru anything like that. What should have taken about 4 hours to tow from Amarillo to Albuquerque, took EIGHT hours. I could only drive 50 mph as we towed straight into the wind,(not from the side or rear, but straight into it with a flat front camper) UPHILL as we came into the mountains.. And that pushed the truck to 2200 RPM a lot. There were recorded wind gusts of up to 70 mph in the area. The camper whipped a lot, my knuckles were white. Listening to the weather channel on XM radio, we could tell that these winds would be around until we got to Albuquerque. There was a severe storm front moving from north to south. NO CLOUDS here, just wind. I was like THERE IS A REAL TUBLEWEED blowing across the road in front of us. That was weird. Then more tubleweeds blew in front of us and confirmed what I thought I thought I saw. And the dust, there were dust storms everywhere….It was memorable..and we lived thru it, 8 hours of it.
I found one thing with this diesel; filling up is prime location out here. There are areas with no filling stations far far between. So, where there is one, EVERYBODY goes there. 8000 truckers fill the truck diesel tanks. The passenger diesel tanks are backed up as well. So, I got in line, you could hardly open the door to get out, seriously the wind gusts made it hard to push open. Then I had some road rage at the tanks…
Ok, so this major fat man pulls up in his two tank Ford F350, pumps his million gallons, I stand outside in the dust storm to reserve my spot. I had to do this cause it’s a small station and the big truckers were getting mad cause I was blocking traffic and I moved outta their way. Anyway, I’m standing there, and Rupert finally fills his truck, and then he decides to go in and pay for it and leave his truck there sitting a the pumps. I get the angry eyes from fuzzy faced truckers ready to get on the road as they maneuver around my rig. I couldn’t loose my place.
Finally, Quazimoto and his buddy the blob come outta the station toting a large pizza and a Big Gulp diet coke in each hand. With my new sand-pitted bald head, I can fill my truck now. I laugh as he pulls up and blocks the trucks as he inhales his pizza and they blow horns to get him outta their way.
We made it to Albuquerque and setup in a very nice RV park. Someone here said today that yesterday they closed part of I40 due to winds.
Currently, we are thinking of staying here another nite till this wind calms. They say it should settle by nite.
Catching up on laundry, chores per se. The obligatory Wal Mart trip. And get some rest....and recovery from yesterday. Mama said they'd be days like this.