TOUR AMERICA, 2019: PHOENIX, ARIZONA – THE GRAND CANYON STATE

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   UMOM New Day Centers, Phoenix 

Nov 29, 2109

Temperature 65 Degrees

A Wild Sleepless Night

We knew the weather was supposed to be bad.  But it was a lot worse than we ever expected.

When we went to bed it was relatively calm.  No wind to speak of and no rain at all.  That would all change rather quickly.

3 am in the morning we were startled awake by a loud, and I mean loud, bang.  What in the world?  Then again, and again.  It was the wind – gusts in the range of 25 to 30 mph according to the forecast –  slamming square into the driver side of Graybeard.  The jacks were down as they had been since we arrived here but we were still rocking from side to side.

The covers over the roof vents were slamming up and down.

The slide topper on the front slide was trying to self destruct and making a racket in the process.

In addition we could hear Gertrude starting to walk across the roof above us.  She had a tether on her in case she decided to go over the slide – but would it hold?

Out I went and up on the roof.  OK, Gertrude was holding her own for the time being.  I pushed her more toward the center of the roof and made sure her tether was still in place.  Thank goodness I did.  By morning’s light she was on the edge of the roof and about to go over, held back only by her tether.  I’ll find a couple of sandbags to hold her down and keep her centered during future storms.

The covers for the roof vents, nothing could be done about them.  The clips were in place and would hold.  But they would continue to slam up and down for the rest of the night.

The slide topper on the front slide, that was an easy one.  We brought the slide in and that solved that issue.

Sleep at this point in time was impossible.  The winds continued for the next several hours.  Scrap metal from the yard behind us went flying over us and landed in the parking lot.  Thankfully, nothing hit us.

It was all over by morning’s first light.  You can bet that naps are on today’s agenda!

We’ve been in several other storms of this magnitude but I guess what made this one so bad was that it was hitting us broadside.

Thankfully, we made it through without an issue.  Graybeard is like the proverbial Timex Watch, he can take a licking and keep on ticking or in this case can get slammed around but never cave or give in to the storm. It’s at times like this that we’re so thankful for the great rig that we have.

That’s it for us on The Road of Retirement.  The winds have died down.  The temperature is dropping quickly tonight.  7 pm and we are already down to 45 degrees.  We have a heat pump.  We have an electric heater.  We have blankets.  We have warm PJ’s.  We’re ready.  Bring it on.

Thanks again for checking in with us.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you again tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!