Wind and Windshield Woes

The tumbleweed attack in Albuquerque was a breezy day compared to Tuesday's dust bowl.  With sustained winds of 40 mph for six hours, and gusts up to 59 mph, it was a miserable day in Holbrook, AZ.

The RV park is "down wind" from a large sand dune, plus the park grounds are mostly dirt with very little gravel and no pavement. Because of the spacing, even when other RVs pulled in to sites next to us, there was nothing blocking us from the onslaught.

Satellite came down and two slides came in mid-day. We ventured out for lunch at Romos, just to get away from the sound of sand pelting our paint and glass. The full-side slide eventually came in as the gusts continued to get worse.

View from the dinette - it gets worse later in the day

You never know if you're over-reacting to the flapping of the slide toppers, but we're glad we pulled them in as we watched the topper on the rig in front of us ripping away from the roof line. They put cinder blocks on top of the other toppers, and after it was already torn they did add another one. 

Guess what I did on Wednesday? Yep, vacuumed and swept the piles of silt from the window frames, the counter, the top of the couch, the floors.....

The exterior looks like it's draped in fog. I don't want to think about all the places sand reached that could cause issues :-(

Maybe New Mexico didn't like the bad wind rap. In which case I offer my sincere apologies - no further "messages" necessary!

With more wind expected on Friday, we decided to head out a day early. A short 90 miles takes us to Flagstaff where we have an appointment for the windshield to be diagnosed and repaired.

I knew from Google Street View that there was a large vacant lot across the street, and I pull in there so Bill can unhook the Jeep. We're hopeful that the rubber can be resealed while we check out the town.

Unhooked, I move next to the shop. And that's as far as we get at this place. The tech looks at the problem, explains they don't have the equipment necessary to remove the windshield and that's what has to happen. They do refer us to a shop that does have the equipment, so we drive to the RV park.

Since this is the continuation of an insurance claim I'm not happy that the company didn't send us to a shop that can handle RVs. And I spoke with the shop the day before to confirm our appointment and they knew we were an RV. What is it about this industry that makes it necessary to go through multiple places to find someone who can actually fix an RV????

Very likely the windshield has to be removed and a new rubber seal installed - possibility of breakage is high :-(

Black Barts RV Park is not a particularly nice park. There are tall pine trees, and the spaces are adequate. The water pressure is good, the site level enough, and we have 50 amp. But the park is again right on I-40 with railroad tracks nearby as well. The interior roads are very rough, and the permanent rigs are not well cared for. We'll look around for other parks, but until we figure out the windshield we're here.

I contact the referred shop and the owner will come out to the park to diagnose the windshield. That saves us one take down and drive into town, so I'm happier. Email to the insurance rep about our latest issue, give her the shop's information, and put it all aside for now. 

Lots to see and do in this beautiful area, we're looking forward to making more wonderful discoveries.