28° / 59° WINDY!!
TODAY’S RV PARK: Whiskey Flats RV Park
OUR RATING: 4 Stars – a clean rv park along a busy highway, wifi is ok for email only
PRICE: $36/day FHU with Good Sam
TRIP MILES DRIVEN: 21,231
Today, we made it an entire 104 miles from Tonopah. High winds and wind gusts have shut down the rest of the road to our next planned stop – Carson City.
As we drove into Hawthorne, we spent the last 29 miles in a sand storm. We were trailing another RV and I noticed it was fish tailing a little.
Steve fired back “So are we, look in your mirror!”.
Sand Storm in Minah, NV
Sure enough, Steve was working hard to keep us upright on the road and in the middle of the lane. His hands were sweating so badly, that between sand gusts, we amped up the a/c so he could dry and cool his hands, and pause from the swearing. Then the a/c went off again a lessons learned last year in a previous sand storm to save the air filters. A very expensive lessons learned. At least today, there was visitiblity and we could actually see the RV in front of us and beyond.
The part that upset Steve the most, was that we had just splurged for a professional RV wash in Las Vegas. They scrubbed the RV and hand shined every window and crevice. When we pulled out of Vegas we looked like a Million Bucks. Rig still looks good.
Right before the detour, complete with flashing police lights, I had spotted a large RV park. After being turned around, we went straight to said RV park and snagged the last available spot with hookups.
This is our first time being stranded due to weather. In one way, it’s exciting. In another, a total bummer, as it takes a day off our Lake Tahoe visit, which was already a short 4 days.
While setting up camp, the wind was so strong that Steve and I had a hard time hearing each other over the walkie-talkies. I literally felt the wind try to pick me up off the ground. That’s some serious wind!
While I did my part for setting up, I started freaking out over the sheer noise hitting the driver’s side of the trailer, especially with our slide covers whipping in the wind. After a quick vacuum, I pulled both driver’s side slides back in. I could still feel the wind pressing up against the sides and the trailer started rocking.
We all came inside and had our lunches in the enclosed trailer, with the wind all around us.
Oh! the joys of exploring someplace new and various climates.
One interesting point of note, this town is home to a NAVSEA location. As evidenced by the signs on all the roadway fences “Restricted Area – Warfare Zone”. The signs themselves aren’t creepy. Coupled with the thousands of bunkers peeking out of the ground from behind those signs is! Miles and miles of those bunkers. Apparently warehouses for missiles. Not entirely sure if that’s supposed to make me feel safer or not.