My shored-up interior. How much wind does it take to blow out a plexiglass window?
On May 21 in the little town of Wall I was reminded of the price I pay for the spectacular clouds/skies here in South Dakota. My rig and I were pounded with more precipitation than… than in the past few years in total… maybe since I hit the road almost seven years ago…
Rain, more inches than I can estimate, plus sleet, hail the size of mothballs, and even some snow. The wind shook the rig, sheet and bolt lightning galore, plus wildly varying temperatures.
And that was balmy compared to the night before, May 20th, while perched on the cliff at Nomad View, just outside Badlands National Park. I’ve experienced some serious natural forces in my life… my mid-Atlantic freighter sinking during a hurricane in 1979 comes to mind, as does the night of December 6, 1969 on Oahu’s North Shore, when an ultimate storm wave came ashore and demolished my house with me in it (both described in my memoir, In Search of Captain Zero)… and this night was up there with any of them…
I nearly lost my new plate to the insane wind.
As in Hawaii, the peak came around midnight when the back window blew out (as did the side window by the door) and I found myself stretched out on my bunk, my dog curled up whimpering beside me as I tried to keep the wind and rain out by bracing the heavy screen with both forearms as the interior lit up like an overexposed photograph from the continuous sheet lightning. Had you been there and had I spoken to you in a normal voice you would not have heard me over the roar of the wind and the booming thunder.
Listen: My surfboard was torn from its roof rack and blown 50 yards to prairie-leeward so — given that I’ve often created 70 mph highway winds without a problem — we must have been hit by gusts of well over 100.
But what genuinely scared me was the vibration, the sound and the feel of it. The word ‘Armageddon’ comes to mind.
Again, this is the price I pay for the skies out here at the South Dakota Badlands:
To be blessed with clouds like the above you have to expect some occasional extreme conditions.
Allan
I’ve also been blessed with some great new acquaintances.
Addendum: As of today, Rand Paul is demanding that Anthony Fauci testify under oath about having funded the Wuhan Lab for ‘gain of function’ research that may have led to the COVID pandemic. I’ll have something to say about this in my next blog post.
That a Shocker Allan.
You’re living out on the edge of the open range and in the bulls eye of mother Earth’s
Mighty wrath. But I wouldn’t think you’d ever have to batten down the hatches.
Glad you’re all OK.
From my lazy-boy enjoying your beautiful photos, I’d say it’s worth it.
Bravo!!! Once again!!!
Allan you have paid a great price!
The result of your work (photographs, written word, as well as films) is priceless!!!
Love you my friend!!! xoxo
Good stuff ‘Hoka Hay’ as chief sitting bull often said in Lakota(the lands you now happily exist upon)~translated ‘today is a good day to die’… Warriors spirit Allan blessings and aloha
Bless you, Allan. You found The Promised Land.
…all that’s left is a visit to Wall Drug. 🙂
Hah, been there done that!
So glad you’re ok Allan
Absolutely wonderful pictures.
What is the lovely accompanying music ? Sounds very Elgar ish.
I was moved … thank you …
I actually don’t know. Anyone else?
Thanks, guys, I appreciate the nice feedback.
I will include the following link in a new post but be aware of Bill (F. William) Engdahl’s piece in NEO (New Eastern Outlook). It complements Virginia Stoner’s piece on vaccine deaths and is worth a look. Here ya go:
https://journal-neo.org/2021/05/19/alarming-casualty-rates-for-mrna-vaccines-warrant-urgent-action/
Allan, we all need you and what you do.
WOW!, just when I thought your photo’s couldn’t get better – they do! ….these are once again fantastic/ beautiful, and more Allan!.
Sorry to hear about the wind damage, I guess you were parked up near the top of a hill?.
I have found that , if you find the right place back from a “squared off” hill – like a cliff face, there is virtually no wind!, because it gets rejected back the other way from the abrupt edge.
People are jumping up and down and getting excited with Virgins ‘space plane’ , but did you know they are barely getting up near the edge of the atmosphere?.
If we had a scaled down model of the earth 12,742 mm in diameter (1klm = 1mm) , they went up hardly 80mm. AND their camera lens is exaggerating the curve of the earth to make them look much higher! :-O
Loved those “play speech” pictures too….and the horse at the end! 😀 😀