Returning from Mesquite 2-13-08

We wanted to go home by way of Ely, north out from Mesquite and then across 50, but too many mountains and too many snow/ice predictions so we came home the same way we went down to Mesquite. We left town at 9:30. We had sunshine but north of Goldfield on 95 we could see the storm clouds. Between Goldfield and Tonopah we hit the wind. It was a brutal headwind at first. Larry went to pass a semi and when he came out from behind the truck the wind just about stopped us. Later the wind changed and came from our east side. Dirt and sand and tumbleweeds were a-blowin. Tumbleweeds that are pulled from the ground by the wind carry rocks with them until they’ve tumbled for awhile, not something I ever thought about. Visibility was poor a couple of times and at some times there was a lot of blowing snow too. Larry was pooped from hanging onto our crazy, bucking wheels. We were really glad we didn’t have the trailer with us, we would have had to wait it out. We saw a few trucks parked into the wind waiting for it to let up. A couple of times the wind would hit so hard it sounded like it was trying to rip off our side mirrors.

By the time we hit Hawthorne it was letting up, but it sure was cold in Fallon compared to what it had been in Mesquite. We hit town just before 5 and after a quick stop at the Safeway for supplies we arrived home.