Thursday, March 13…Dust Storm (The Spill Canvas)

   Piggy cookies come five to a bag, which is not enough to last from Wednesday to Wednesday, especially when Kim and I both like them. So, I buy two bags, usually eating a cookie right away and then freezing the rest, after wrapping them individually. Two reasons for that: preserves the freshness and a frozen cookie discourages me from boredom snacking.

    I have found the most delicious way of defrosting a cookie: put the Saran Wrapped cookie outside on the picnic table in the sun. Warming up inside the plastic wrap keeps it moist and bonus, it’s warm!  Like a cookie fresh out of the oven. Yum!!  Today, Kim dipped a frozen cookie in his coffee and said that was a tasty way to deal with a frozen cookie.  

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   Our intent was to get up early to drive to Sabino Canyon, which is a bit more than an hour away. We could beat the heat while taking our walk and check on the most glorious crested saguaro (cristate) I’ve ever seen. One thing led to another, and we didn’t leave until 11 o’clock…so much for good intentions.

   While waiting for Kim to get up, I got involved in making coded messages to send to the grandkids.  Wanted to get those done and in the mail, so mostly it was me that altered our ‘get up early and go’ plan.  But, as it turned out, the temperature topped out in the low 70’s and there was a good breeze, so beating the heat wasn’t such an issue.

    Walking in Sabino Canyon, we kept to trails instead of the road. Found the crested saguaro, took my picture and then we started wandering. Kim had his OnX Hunt app going which showed us the trails, so we were able to plot a course and sort of stick to it. When we were back on the paved road and I looked back at where we’d been, I said, “Well, yesterday we walked around a mountain, today we went up and over a mountain.” Kim laughed and said that he thought it was more of a foothill but if I wanted to call it a mountain, I could.  Yeah, he’s right…it was more of a small foothill but it felt like a mountain when we were going up it.  Walked almost 3 miles today and then went to the Arizona Pizza Company after to split a calzone. Calories burned vs. calories eaten were probably equal.

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   We know that electrical poles in certain parts of Tucson are dressed up like saguaro cactuses to help them blend.  Well, today we saw cell towers that looked like palm trees.  From a distance, it’s easy to believe…up close, not so much. But it’s still better than a clunky cell tower just hanging out there.

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   Did I mention there was a good breeze today?  On the way back from our outing, by the time we gotto Marana, we were looking at dust blowing out on the horizon in every direction. In the distance, Picacho Peak was shrouded in a brownish haze. By the time we reached the Picacho Peak exit to the frontage road, monster dust devils were dancing in the fields. The breeze had turned into a wind.

   The speed limit signs in the variable speed corridor had been lowered to 35 but everybody was going faster.  We were doing 50 mph over on the frontage road and traffic on the highway was going faster than us…until suddenly they weren’t.  About 6 miles from the campground, the westbound traffic on I-10 was at a standstill.  We fully expected to see a massive vehicle pile-up. Instead, about 4 miles from the campground, we ran into the reason for the standstill…the Dust Storm from Hell!!  When Mother Nature decided to start throwing dirt, she didn’t mess around.

   It’s so weird because we were in the clear and then we weren’t. The rules for a dust storm are to pullover on the side of the road, put the flashers on and stay off the brakes. We had no choice but to keep moving because other vehicles that had diverted to the frontage road had pulled over and there was no room for us to do likewise. At times we couldn’t see the car in front us, just a car’s length away. It was a total dirt out!  To add to the stress of the situation, the wind had loosened the latches on the truck’s tonneau cover and it was occasionally flapping up. I did take pictures, but they only tell the outside part of the story; there’s no way to capture the anxiety level inside the truck cab.  

   At one point, traffic on the frontage road was stopped. As the wind buffeted the truck, I could see the red dust swirling around on the outside of the passenger side window like it was trying to get in and suddenly we could both taste dust.  Un-freakin’-believable!! We were eating dust while sitting in the truck with all the windows fully closed! 

   There was a solid line of traffic in the other lane of the frontage road; some had pulled over and some were still inching forward like us. At first, we thought that traffic had been diverted from the eastbound lane of the highway, but there was still a solid line of traffic out there; we don’t really know why the frontage road was bumper to bumper with traffic. It’s not like the dust storm was any calmer there than on the highway. Anyway, the worst of the dust was about a mile or so wide; as we started to come out of it, I could see the westbound traffic on I-10 zipping right along, while the eastbound traffic had come to a standstill.

   So glad to reach the campground, where the concern was for the telescope and the bikes.  The telescope had been moved but had fallen against the table that Kim has out there, and the bikes were in the upright position.  Kim is fairly certain that the scope had been blown over and that someone picked it up and put it behind the table. I’m sure tomorrow someone will tell him about rescuing the scope. He checked it all over and is hopeful that all is okay…but needs a clear night to ascertain that and believe me, that’s not going to happen tonight.  The wind has calmed down but currently it’s raining.  Probably not a lunar eclipse in our near future. 

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**Update: The wind died down, the rain moved on and at 10:15 pm., we were able to see the beginning of the lunar eclipse.  Kim’s telescope was in the camper waiting to be reunited with its tripod tomorrow, but I had my camera, so I periodically stepped outside to get a picture.