Wind and the move out frenzy!

[DesertDweller]

We hadn't been online lately, because we were buying the RV and moving out of the house. SO, we went to California and we loved the RV, so we bought it! We went down the road and bought new tires, safety first. So, as they were putting the tires on it, I secured insurance for the drive back to Arizona. All was going...TOO well...until...

We got on the freeway for the drive back to Arizona, we needed to get back fast so we could finish moving out of our sold house. THEN: WOOOOOOSH! The wind whipped into a horrible frenzy! I was driving our van behind my Dear David, and watching the RV sway to and fro...WOW, that was terrifying!

So, even in the van, I was being tossed all over the freeway, so I decided to exit. I called my Dear David...and he was five miles ahead of me, and had also exited the freeway...but...on the ramp....the dang AWNING unrolled and was SLAM, SLAM, SLAMMING against the motor home!  He had NO idea what had occurred, only this horrendous sound! So, he turned down a street to find the awning unrolled. 

At this point, I was NOT getting back on the freeway for ANY reason, so I found a 24 hour fitness place and climbed into the back of the van and went to sleep for a few hours. The next day, I mapped out how to get to David on my phone, avoiding that horrible freeway. Turns out, there was a wind advisory that went up to 63 miles an hour!

Needless to say, we sat in a shopping center parking lot the entire next day, waiting for the wind to die down. Well, it never DID, so we got stuck in CA in a Motel 6 for three days before we escaped!

Ah, the "beginning" of our new adventures...

 

[user 13531]

Yup, that I-10 corridor from the inland empire to Indio can be super windy. RV's and Big Rigs flip over out there all the time. Good thing you sat it out a few days. Better to be safe then sorry... Hope the awning made it through...

 

[PathofAsha]

That does sound terrifying. Glad you two are OK. I highly recommend awning straps for your awning to prevent such an event. Or anything which lashes your awning to your RV securely. The winds can come out of nowhere and are common this time of year, so it's best to be prepared. The other option is to remove it completely and use some portable shade structure. 
I bet those new tires provided an otherwise nice drive.  :s

 

[cyndi]

Lesson learned. Weather awareness is an integral part of mobile life. Get yourself some weather alert apps or check weather before starting out, EVERY time. Better yet, do both.

 

[highdesertranger]

^ what Cyndi said. glad you made it out in the end. we need some pics. highdesertranger

 

[Wabbit]

Feel for ya, you guys had it worse than us for sure! I have driven big cities before, but my confused roommate was shatting bricks on some of those 5-6 lane 75MPH roads. I was leading the way in the beast and we use some cobra walkie talkies to communicate. I told her, stick on my a$$ and match the others driving. She did great, but I still felt bad for her(abit...lol). Hopefully it gets easier for her. I love driving in madness conditions, gets my adrenaline up!

 

[DuneElliot]

I80 through Wyoming is very probably worse. I just watched a semi get blown over on top of two Wyoming Highway Patrol cars...thankfully the LEOs were already out of them aiding in another accident and no one was hurt, but the wind can be deadly.

Glad to hear you are okay and made the right decision to sit it out.

 

[Gunny]

Desert Dweller, I can relate, I did my stunt driving (a jackknife) on I-10 in Banning. My accident was partially not having a sway bar and partly the wind. I shut down a couple more times along the I-10/I-20 corridor due to high wind.

Rob

 

[ArtW]

I keep seeing more and more reasons to not tow a travel trailer lol

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

Artw, it's not just travel trailers, vans, especially hi tops get battered by the wind too.
I waited out a windstom off 10. Two winters ago. I was white knuckled and a pucker factor of 9 before I could pull off the highway. Yes, that was towing a small trailer.

 

[DesertDweller]

I sure am grateful we made it out of that one! A lesson in windy travel for sure! We're not usually in a big hurry to get places, but in that case, we really needed to get back to the house to move out! We use the van a lot to work as vendors at events, and I've had some pretty frightful wind affect us in that, too! We weather check constantly, but that one threw us a real hardball!  :s

 

[grimmal]

We always use a zip tie on each pillar assembly as high up as we can reach. No matter what happens on roller assembly it cannot roll out if pillars are tied. Then we just cut them off when we need it .100 ties are about 5.00

 

[hepcat]

I was out there on I-10/I-20 in that wind too on Monday. I was driving from Deming NM towards El Paso and was getting battered pretty bad. I was making about 55 mph tops. I called it quits in El Paso and holed up there for the night. The wind even rocked the B-van while I sat parked.

 

[DesertDweller]

Ah, Deming, NM. Been through there once in March. Was driving my old Ford Club Wagon van, had the pedal to the metal and was doing 40 mph! A kindly truck driver took pity on me and let me draft him for quite some time, which helped a lot. Then there's that weird little back road between Deming and Hatch...100 miles of absolutely nothing out there. The wild rabbits gave me funny looks when I had to water the foliage  :blush:

 

[DuneElliot]

We always use a zip tie on each pillar assembly as high up as we can reach. No matter what happens on roller assembly it cannot roll out if pillars are tied. Then we just cut them off when we need it .100 ties are about 5.00

This is some really good advice...I'm going to do this.