Monsoons

Monday, July 30, 2007

Yesterday was an extremely interesting day. We headed out for a drive. Headed for higher country to see the Sacamore Canyon in Williams. We started driving up, (yet again) as we did we could see where it had rained the day before (or at least that is what we thought). There was water running everywhere. Granted, the sky was dark off in the distance, but we didn’t think much about it. We drove further and chuckled at all the tents that we saw and said to ourselves, “Boy aren’t we glad we have a camper. They must be drenched!”

As we drove further the water ran deeper, and the sky got darker. (It was only about 10:00AM so it couldn’t be monsoon time yet! That only happens late afternoon, right?)

Wrong! Monsoon can happen any time. We started to see lightening, started to hear thunder and we were being consumed by the black, ominous clouds! Gulp!

Reversing our direction and heading away from the clouds we saw blue sky, yea, we were going to be safe. Ha Ha, we evaded the inevitable for a bit, but then all of a sudden, the sky opened up and swallowed us! Wipers at full tilt just couldn’t keep up with the amount of water falling on our windshield. The roads became water troughs and spillways. The dips in the road were filled with flowing water. (Now, I know we were in a truck and were way above the water, or one would hope, because we ventured through.) Murtle was getting ready for a good swim, and Taco was about to ride on her shell.)

Many “little” cars pulled over and appeared to be waiting. (I actually thought that might be the thing to do, but Brad, the adventurous one, and the one who was driving, floated through it, and of course we were fine.) We set NUVI for back roads, and unpaved ones to get back. (Brad didn’t want to drive on the interstate during a bad storm, go figure.) We were no more than 5 miles away from the campground. It seemed like the longest 5 miles that we had driven in a long time.

It was amazing the amount of water that was “running” everywhere. I mean everywhere. Water was is places that you just wouldn’t imagine that it would ever be. The Roads all had water, the ditches were full, the fields, the yards, everywhere. As far as we could see (and we really couldn’t see very far because visibility wasn’t far) was like a river.

Well, we did make it back to the campground and parked close to the camper. Jumped over the “swamp” outside the door and found refuge in the camper as the thunder and lightening consumed us for another half hour. Brad thought it would be a good time for a nap, so I decided to venture into town to the store. I went into town to see the aftermath of the storm. The water had receded and the town crews were out if full force. They actually used bobcats to scoop up the rocks and dirt off the main roads. They shoveled and swept the roads. (This was a Sunday!)

After I got back, Brad was wide awake. Still raining, lightly, not much else to do, so for the rest of the afternoon we played cribbage, (what else to do on a rainy afternoon!) My cribbage skills, or actually desire to win, is not strong. I just have fun playing and joking around. Well, Brad, (dear soul) try as he might to let me win, just couldn’t do it. He won all except one game and I skunked him. He was throwing points away and I just didn’t catch on! We both ended up laughing and making jokes about the game.

This morning we got up again and went for a walk. The temperature was a mild 70 ish, but the sun was warm. We walked downtown again and had breakfast. (Great coffee and wonderful food.) A two mile walk is great! Now, remember, it was just yesterday that we had all that rain. Well, all gone today! Oh, there were “little” puddles here and there, but the drains, spillways, ditches and such were dry! Plenty of people out cleaning up the rocks and gravel on the sides of the roads, ball fields, etc.

We are going to head out for the Grand Canyon this morning. We’ll pack a lunch, and (rain gear)! Again, it is supposed to monsoon again today. The other day they had to close the road to the Grand Canyon because of the monsoon. Hope we can get through today. (This weather is supposed to last for the rest of the week.) We’ll take the chance this morning. The sun is out and it is beautiful right now.

Brad is just about ready to go, so I’ll send pictures when I can.


Sunday, July 29, 2007

Yesterday was a travel day. We left Boulder City, NV headed south on Route 93, then made a left hand turn (East) on Route 40. (Yes, we are headed east! Not that we are really ready to head east, but that is the direction that we are going.) We are now in Williams, Arizona (on Historic Route 66). The campground that we are in is very nice. The whole area is “covered” with a reddish “stone” that almost looks like crushed red lava. Very interesting.

Before we left Boulder City, though, Murtle, Taco and I went for a walk. Murtle wanted to see the cactus up close and personal before we left. Taco kept telling her that cacti was not what she thought it might be, and she found that out after she hopped up on a prickly one.

Taco fell over with laughter when she begged me to help her down.

When we left Boulder we headed to Arizona right over the Hoover Dam. Because we were a camper, we needed to go through the check point. They took one look at our plates and asked to see under the lid in the back of the truck, then asked to see inside of the camper. That was it! Guess we have an honest look about us. As soon as we crossed the dam, it was an hour earlier. (The time zone is on the dam. Taco thought it was time for breakfast again.)

Again we drove by some beautiful country. (Not that we would want to live here or anything, but different and varied terrain.) This time we saw a lot of desolate areas. The homes appeared run down, mostly abandoned, and ghostly. The were also far and few between. At one time we drove on Route 40 for over 75 miles without seeing a single building, occupied or abandoned.
I guess I should have done a little more homework on the areas in which we are traveling. Little did I realize that after we left the Vegas area, we headed to higher ground. We kept driving up, and up, up. At one time I checked the elevation and we were at almost 7,000 feet! (Right here in Williams we are at 6750 feet!)

On the way here we also came across areas that it had obviously rained, and rained hard! The roads were drying up, but on the sides there were puddles! (Now that is something that we had not seen since we left! Remember, we have been on the road for a month now, and it had just sprinkled on us, or we had a very brief passing shower - until now.)

We had been warned that this is Monsoon time! Well, we found out what a monsoon is. Last night the sky turned black as black could be around 7:00PM. The air temperature was a very comfortable low 80ish. (Such a welcome feel from the 112 degrees in Vegas.) I walked down to the office to find out about the internet not working and there were a few people around talking about the imminent monsoon. It was coming right for us here in Williams. (Well, I did not know what to expect! When we were in the Vegas area, there were a few thunderstorms that rumbled through, but where we were, there wasn’t much rain!) I got back to the camper and told Brad what I had heard, and we decided to go for an ice cream. (Town is only 1 mile away.) So we got in the truck, and went for a “small” blizzard at Dairy Queen. After we finished, we drove home, and the sky was getting darker.

All settled into our camper, the thunder started, the lightening cracked, and the heavens opened up. I have never been in such a rain storm as we had last night! What a doozy! It wasn’t just raining buckets, it was raining water tanks! The amount of water that fell in the twenty minutes that it rained, must have been about 6 inches (ok, Brad said it was only about ½ inch in twenty minutes, we haven‘t heard anything official yet. The official amount was 2.68 inches in less than an hour). But it was unbelievable!

We looked out of the camper and couldn’t even see the camper next to us! We could barely see the truck and it was parked within touching distance! There were puddles everywhere. Had we walked out of the camper, we would have soaked our shoes! (Thought we were in a flood!) The rain subsided and we went to bed. Thunder rumbled for a few more hours through the mountains. How ominous!

Well, this morning, I was so curious. When I woke up at 5:15, I had to look at the flooding! I looked out the window, and nothing! You couldn’t even tell that it had rained! No sign of it at all! Gone, fizzed, caput. The ground here just runs it right off.

This was the first day on our trip that I put my jeans on in the morning. The temperature was a great 60 something. What a relief it was. The sun was out, the sky was bright, just a great day. I was getting dressed to go out for a walk, and Brad woke up. He asked me where I was going, and told me that he would go with me. So we walked downtown for breakfast. What a nice walk.

This is the first time that we have felt like walking, it had just been so HOT before. (I would like to think that the rest of our journey would be like this, but I think that is wishful thinking.)

There is a rodeo in town this weekend. At breakfast we saw lots of cowboys in their hats, boots, and spurs! How authentic it is here on Route 66 to have cowboys around. (Last night we went to the visitor center and were told that every night there is a shootout and a cowboy gets shot! We’ll have to catch that tonight!) So, we couldn’t really tell if the cowboys that we saw at the restaurant were with the rodeo, or just playing the part.

Today is Sunday, so we will probably forgo the Grand Canyon today and visit the Sycamore Canyon instead. We will go to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. We were told that the Sycamore Canyon is a great place to see wildlife. We like to see that, so it should be a great day. We will pack a lunch and head out before 10:00.

I just heard the weather on television, and for this area, there is a threat of a monsoon every night for a week. (Guess we will plan to be “home” before 7:00 every night. Good thing the camper is water tight and off the ground by about 10inches. Hmmm, wonder if we float?)