Day 58 - May 13, 2008

This was just supposed to be a normal travel day. I guess the 13th of the month decided to give the day some twists and turns. First of all when we woke up we were COMPLETELY surprised to be in 8" of snow. What a shock!! The day before we were wearing short sleeves and shorts!

Then the next turn of unlucky 13 happened as we entered Nevada. We were climbing up to Union Pass when we heard loud noises on the side of the coach. The wind was ferociously blowing and we soon realized the wind had broken 2 of the 3 supports for the awning which goes over the passenger side slide. Frank climbed up to the top of the coach with the wind blowing at I would guess around 60 to 70 miles. The main metal barrel of the awning was flopping on the roof and at any moment could hit Frank in the head. Also, bear in mind that there was a steady stream of semi trucks passing us which made one shiver to think that not only Frank could be blown off the top of the coach but be blown into the path of a semi. Poor Frank had his legs wrapped around the ladder of the coach and tied off the flapping end of the long metal barrel of the awning. He then made his way down the length of the awning and cut the canvas in half. I tried to go up the ladder to help but once up there I experienced the worst pounding in my head I have ever experienced. Frank made me get down as he feared I would pass out. I got back on the ground and tried taking several calming deep breaths to try to get a handle on the stabbing pains in my head. With the awning stabilized, we continued up the mountain to find a safer pull off that was out of the wind. Frank managed to break off the long metal barrel of the awning from it's last support. Then he climbed back up to the roof to cut off the remaining canvas. Frank really put forth a Herculean effort to get us out of an incredibly bad situation.

Then as we approached Las Vegas we encountered "big city" traffic again. We have been used to the less populated areas around the National Parks. This will be a travel day we will never forget. Tomorrow we will confirm with a Winnebago tech that the awning over the slide isn't critical and we can continue on with our plans. Tomorrow has definitely got to be better than today. Please keep your prayers coming for a safe journey for us.

Frank in his makeshift plastic bag snow shoes

Can you believe this - Arizona in mid-May??

The "Coach" in the snow