Happy Winds-day!!!
Went to bed last night to wind and woke up to wind. I was up before 7 a.m. and when I stepped
outside, the air smelled fresh like after a rain. The truck windshield, bikes, trailer, picnic
table….all were wet. However, the ground showed no evidence of rain. Rain or heavy dew? Kim thought it probably rained because wind
and dew don’t mix…however, a gentleman up at the office said ‘it don’t rain
around these parts, ma’am’ and went to say it was a heavy dew. I don’t know what it was but it was wet and
now our helmets need to dry out because yes, the one night we leave them
hanging on the handlebars, wetness happens!!
Bah!
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We had planned a
ride out to White Sands National Monument today. But it’s about 145 miles one way from the
campground and there was a wind advisory lasting throughout the day; there was
no way I wanted to fight major wind for 300 miles, not to mention the blowing
sand factor, so we decided to ride back out to Sitting Bull Falls. So what we did instead was fight the wind for
120 miles and it wasn’t nice white sand that was blowing at us, it was
dirt…nasty dusty dirt!! Actually the day
didn’t start out as windy as it ended. We left at about noon and headed to the
falls. The wind was only a minor factor
at that point. It seemed to get worse as
we approached the falls, but we were heading into a canyon…increased wind was
expected because we were down in the mountains. Wind seemed to pick up a bit as
we were leaving the falls, walking back to the bikes. Exiting the parking lot, the road had a
couple of hairpin turns and a gust of wind hit me as I was driving slowly
around one of the curves. I’ve always wondered if the wind could be so strong
that it would blow a bike over. While I
didn’t get blown over, I am now a believer that it’s possible.
 |
| Dust covering the shine of the sun |
 |
| Dust changed the look of the horizon |
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The falls were 7
miles back from the main road…when we got back out to the intersection with Hwy
137, we turned right because I thought that would take us out to Hwy 180, which
we knew was another way to the falls because of a sign we’d seen
yesterday. We were maybe 20 miles down
Hwy 137 when I saw another sign…radioed to Kim that we needed to stop to check
the map. At that point Rapunzel told us we
were nowhere near Hwy 180 nor were we heading in that direction…in fact, we
were only 14 miles from Texas.
What?! So we turn around, go back
20 miles and find the right road. While
we were wandering through the mountains, the wind had grown in strength…as we
got back to flat land, the sky which had been a beautiful blue was now a light
brownish color…dust! Everywhere there
was dust in the air! Dust obliterated the sun and the blue sky and the
mountains, which had been quite a presence on the horizon, were now only a
faint outline. The upside was that 92o
didn’t feel quite as hot as it normally would have…however, I’d rather have the
heat than the wind and blowing dirt. My
helmet is a good fit but the wind found just a little bit of slack and was
trying to rip it off my head. I knew
that it couldn’t go anywhere but it was lifting and shifting…and every time I
quickly reached up to put it right, my arm was activating the communicator…so
there was the wind through the microphone noise added to the mix. We finally found Hwy 180 and cruised into
Carlsbad, where it got slightly worse. At the gas station I felt like a sitting
duck for the blowing sand…thought maybe being a moving target would make a
difference. As we continued on through
town, I realized the folly of that thinking.
Getting hit by blowing dirt is getting hit by blowing dirt. L However, as much wind as we had encountered
throughout the day, the last 12 miles from Carlsbad to the campground were the
worst!! The wind was so constant that
we were both riding on a lean to counteract it and then a big gust would hit
and we’d have to fight to keep from drifting out of our lane. I watched Kim
react to the wind and knew I was doing the same. Forget about listening to music or using the
communicators under those conditions. And somewhere along the line I became convinced
that we’d find the trailer blown over when or if we made it back to the
campground. To tell the story right, I
have to admit that I was ready to quit, just turn the bike off and sit there
alongside the road. But what would that
have accomplished? So I pressed on, both
figuratively and literally, for those last 10 miles. Thankfully we made it back; however, I have to
confess to doing some audible whimpering along the way. And thank goodness the trailer was still in an
upright position! Other things in the
camp may have blown over, but not the trailer.
(I had Kim read this to see if I over-exaggerated the wind…he assured me
I did not.)
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When we got back to the trailer, I changed my clothes and sat
on the air mattress to relax…and sank about 1 ½ feet. Oh, Oh….seems we may have sprung a leak! Kim
had aired it up just before we left today so it should have still been
firm. We pull the sleeping bags off,
which took up a good deal of floor space, and tipped the mattress on its side
to see if we could diagnose the problem.
Found a hole in the underside...I suggested going to town to get a new
mattress but Kim wanted to try a repair first.
However, we didn’t have anything to patch it with so we jumped in the
truck to head to the office. Nothing
there either. At that point, Kim decides
we’re heading to Wal-Mart in Artesia to get a new mattress. I protest because I haven’t had a shower yet
and I look as schlumpy as I feel. He
looked me over and pronounced that I looked good enough for Wal-Mart, so off we
go. Neither one of us had a phone so we
didn’t have Rapunzel to direct us and not only that, I didn’t have my purse, so
we had to trust that Kim’s debit card would work. Made it to Wal-Mart by asking directions, I
didn’t go into the store and Kim’s card worked fine as we are now in possession
of a new air mattress. Picked up a
pizza on the way home and sat in the truck to eat it because the trailer was in
disarray and it was too windy to sit outside. Definitely a memorable day!!
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Sitting Bull Falls was somewhat of a surprise. It’s back at
the end of a canyon, very accessible thanks to a walkway. It also appears to be a local (well, if you
want to drive the distance) swimming hole and the falls originate high up near
the top of a mountain. Made me wonder
what the source of the water was. Also
curious as to the name. I thought I’d
read somewhere about Sitting Bull using it as a hideout, but truthfully, I’ve
read so much about the major Native American players, that the stories may be
intermingling. Anyway, Wikipedia to the
rescue!
Sitting Bull Falls is a series of waterfalls located
in a canyon in the Lincoln National Forest southwest of the city of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The United States Department of Agriculture's
Forest Service maintains a popular recreation area for day use at the location
of the falls.
The falls are fed by springs located in the canyon above. The water
flows through a series of streams and pools until reaching the falls where it
drops 150 feet into the canyon below. Most of the water disappears into the
gravel or cracks in the rocks and either reappears in springs further down the
canyon or joins the Pecos Valley underground water supply.
The area around Sitting Bull Falls is the remnant of a reef system known
as the Capitan Great Barrier Reef dating from the Permian period. Approximately 250
million years ago, the region was located near the edge of an inland sea.
The origin of the name Sitting Bull Falls remains uncertain. One version
holds that the falls were named after a Sioux medicine man. The Apache name for the area was
gostahanagunti which means hidden
gulch.
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As of 9:30 p.m., after finally getting a shower to wash off
the grime of the day, I came out of the bathroom to find the wind was still a
force but stars could be seen in the sky…which means the dust has subsided. No way would the night sky be that clear if
the dust was still in the air.
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Since Kim couldn’t do any star gazing in that kind of wind,
we set up our own little movie theater in the trailer, got our snacks and
settled back to watch the movie Trolls. J
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Rode 119 miles today
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