A Dirty Start

 We finally left San Diego early afternoon heading east into the desert between CA and AZ.  It was hot!

 

 Tiny little desert tortoises at the Yuma, AZ Visitor's Center.

 Did you hear about the huge dust storm on the news today?  Just west of Gila Bend, AZ, a monster cloud rolled towards I-8.  I pulled off the freeway to watch it as it came towards me.

  The winds were horrendous!  When the storm was overhead - sand was swirling and beating my car.  I drove under a freeway overpass to avoid the flying rocks and debris.  For 20 minutes I couldn't see a thing - visibility was ZERO!  all I could do was sit with lights on and emergency blinkers.  I don't know how the drivers managed up on the freeway.

   Later on the news we heard homes were destroyed in eastern AZ.  When we got to the hotel in Gila Bend, AZ - all power to the town was out.  We had no electricity for about 3 hours in our room - the whole town shut down.  (Caroline, those miner's headlamps were a life saver!)