The Full Trio – and a dust storm!

Picked up the trailer this morning, traveled for a bit, found another great boondocking site, and then my first dust storm!

Got some work done this morning, then took off to get the LP & water tanks filled, and pick up the trailer.  The trailer looked like I had just dropped it off yesterday.  Nothing changed even a tiny bit.  Hooked it up to the Great White Knight, and left Quartzsite.

Pulled off at a rest stop, had lunch, and hunted for a boondocking site for the evening.  I didn’t plan on getting a lot of traveling in today, and that turned out to be a really fortuitous decision.

FreeCampsites.net gave me just what I was looking for.  A BLM spot a couple miles off the highway on my way to Phoenix.  Being a Wednesday evening, it was completely vacant, save for a single guy on an off-road motorcycle/bike thing that strolled by at one point.

Around an hour or so after pulling in, I noticed what looked like a storm coming in from the west.  Since Quartzsite had been predicted to receive rain, I figured I would get it too.  As the storm came closer, I checked my phone, and it warned of a dust storm, and to avoid traveling if at all possible.  Good thing I had already found my spot for the night!

I’ve never seen a dust storm before in person, only in movies.  This wasn’t a sci-fi epic disaster, but it sure was cool to experience!  The camper rocked back and forth a bit, and the winds howled.  I closed all the windows and vents a couple minutes before it hit, and I can’t imagine what a mess it’d be in here if I hadn’t.  After the dust blew through, a few drops of rain followed it.  Things have calmed down enough now that I can crack open a couple windows and get some of the cool air that’s arrived.

The White Knight is handling the load of the camper and the trailer quite well.  I’m intentionally keeping my speed down not because of concern the engine can’t handle it, but because I don’t want to blow up my aging tires.  High pressure plus low tread plus high speed and temperature combine to make tires blow up, and I’d rather like to avoid that.  I’ll be keeping my speed at 65 or less while towing and hauling everything until I get new tires.  Hopefully I can have that done while I’m in or near Tyler.

The plan for tomorrow is to get a lot of traveling in.  It’s 18 hours to Tyler from here, but that’s if you’re driving speed limit, which I’m not.  At 60mph, it’s closer to 20.4 hours which will probably be the better part of three days.

PS: Forgot to mention, the coordinates for this boondocking site are: 33.459811, -113.055287

One thought on “The Full Trio – and a dust storm!”

  1. Glad you were ready for the storm and not driving in it. I bet that does a number on vehicle air filters.

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