High winds in southern NM...

Just a heads up, probably should've posted this earlier... we have high winds here in Alamogordo, with gusts pushing 50 m.p.h., higher in the nearby mountains. Dunno how bad it is on I-10 near Las Cruces & El Paso, but I imagine it's windy down there too, as the wind is coming from that direction. I have 5' tumbleweeds rolling down my country lane, lol. The winds are supposed to die down later tonight... hope this helps some drivers, good luck to y'all and be safe!

 

I dunno, I always liked running out west, that's where the wide open spaces were... until ya hit the overcrowded coast. Hard to do triple digits in the Northeast without getting into trouble with Johnny Law, but out in Utah or West Texas it's a different story... which reminds me of a humorous incident that occurred in West Texas. This was back when Texas had a dual split limit, split between 4-wheelers & big trucks and split between night & day. Well, I was heading home on I-20, westbound not far from Pecos one evening, when two hands rolled up on me doing 90 m.p.h. They had big ol' chicken radios and my truck would go that fast, so I glommed onto their 90-m.p.h. parade, right? Wasn't long before some eastbound hand hollered and told us that two bears were rolling up on our back door... but the lead driver ahead replied that those two bears were out of New Mexico, he had already seen them before, and they were returning to their state after helping quell civil unrest in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

So these hands & I never even slowed down, as we were out of the jurisdiction of these full-grown NM bears... in fact, the lead driver keyed up and told the next guy, "I'll take the first one, you take the second!" Like they were gonna run the troopers into the ditch, lol. The troopers must have heard this, because they sped up and roared past us at something like 120 m.p.h.---passed me like I was standing still, lol. ONLY in that separate reality known as 'OTR Truck Driving' could something like this happen... once the bears were well past us, I told those drivers, "Ya know those bears will be waiting for ya at the state line!" And the lead driver responded that they could wait till the cows came home, as he and his running partner were jumping off in El Paso, lol. Same way I intended to jump off in Horizon City and spend the night at the Petro. Funny what ya remember from your 'trucking daze'---never before and never since have I cruised along at 90 m.p.h. in a big truck without fear of being hassled by a full-grown bear, lol. A memory to cherish until I die, 10-4?

 

Haha, I hear ya, Cuzzin It, usually it meant risking a ticket from some speed cop hiding behind a bush... and I picked up one or two "driving awards" in my time, lol. My all-time favorite award was for going 85 m.p.h. with a wagonload of Class 9 lead solder waste... but it was out in the boondocks of New Mexico, not far from Acoma Sky City, and with a 75 m.p.h. limit, the '10 over' ticket only cost me $54, lol. No points either, go figure...

I actually bought a cheap document frame from WallyWorld and FRAMED that citation, with the speeds and cost highlighted... it'll go up on the wall after I paint the guest bathroom this spring, that way guests who visit me can trip on it as they handle their business, lol.

 

Dave_in_AZ, you're doing the right thing... when it comes to high winds, things can get crazy. I remember asking a shipper if I could spend the night in the outer lot after my wagon got loaded, as a blizzard was moving into the Buffalo (NY) area... he told me to park near a row of wagons in the outer lot, no worries. But at first, I backed into the slot, only to watch my water temp gauge drop like a rock... no winterfront on the grille of my truck, you understand. I ain't kidding, that gauge needle dropped at least 30 degrees, so I pulled out and nosed into the slot, putting the rear end of the wagon into that howling wind, and the temp gauge returned to normal. Funny how in trucking, weird stuff can happen even when you're parked, lol...