Thursday, May 31, 2012

There and back again...















This was taken Friday eve near Monument Valley en route to Utah for Memorial Day weekend.

What had appeared to be distant smog, or even fog trapped by inversion, soon morphed into a full blown, 24 hour sandstorm, with winds gusting up to 60 miles an hour.

The next day, undaunted, Dee-Wayne and I jumped onto our bikes and into what we posited was a "protected canyon."

Halfway in, my chain broke and after a sand-stung, aborted attempt to repair same, we ended up hiking most of the last 8 miles out, continually buffeted by the ravenous, howling winds.

Finally, coming up out of the canyon, an especially nasty gust filled my eyes with sand and I found myself flailing around like Frankenstein's Monster, arms outflung, moaning and cursing my fate.
















Dee-wayne meanwhile, 60 yards further up the path, watched my shakespearean display with remote disdain, himself being scoured by the driving winds and sand - all the while hovering 20 feet from the pavement - our escape route back to town.

Eventually we made it back, and that night the winds finally slowed.

And then the temperature dropped.
Near freezing, actually.

Did I mention we were in a tent? But I digress.

Monday, was actually very pleasant. 80's with a light breeze. 

This I noted while winding my way back to Arizona, where the the temperatures were once again climbing into the 100's.


3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:32 AM

    Dumbass!
    D.O.D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:04 AM

    It seems that all fathers of our generation are the same in that they have the ability to sit at home watching tv and/or smoking cigarettes while pontificating and passing sententious judgement (and copious amounts of gas) upon those of us trying to live before we, well... Become THEM.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:10 AM

      Oh yeah! And I don't watch tv! (That is to say, sure I have a television set, but it's not hooked up to the outside world. An occasional tasteful movie while smoking additive free cigarettes and enjoying a full bodied beer from across the big pond is more to my liking.) And tell your mother to get her underwear out of the back of my truck! D.O.D

      Delete