Boggy, Boggy Thicket

We dodged bad weather throughout or recent trip. 

For just over a month, it seemed like everywhere we went had experienced bad weather the day before we arrived or it came the day after we left.  Meanwhile, seems like it rained at home almost every day we were gone – Houston is on track to record its wettest July in history.

In Onawa, Iowa, we watched a huge thunderstorm pass to our north.  No rain, but gusty winds broke some huge limbs from the cottonwoods in the RV park.  Apparently, weather didn’t get much better after we left, since a dam failed up there this past weekend. CNN

The Missouri River was up in South Dakota, because of torrential rains that hit just before we arrived, but we made it all the way across the state, and spent a week at Custer under sunny skies.

Weather was fine in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho while we were there.  Not so great last night; a rare tornado touched down, killing a couple farmers in Montana.  Another twister destroyed a motorhome in southern Utah on Monday.

The Oregon Coast was foggy for at least part of every day, but we’re told that’s normal.

We finally got rained on in Silver City, New Mexico.  Set up in the campground in the rain – something I normally don’t like to do, but in this case it was a welcome respite from the heat.  The city has had several flash flood watched and warnings since we left, but that’s normal.

The town had originally been designed with the streets running north to south. The town was also built in the path of normal water runoff. Businesses sprang up and people learned to deal with the inconveniences of the summer rain. Silver City was built with high sidewalks in the downtown area to accommodate high flood waters. Meanwhile, uncontrolled grazing thinned down plant life on hills surrounding the town. During the night of July 21, 1895, a heavy wall of water rushed through the downtown business district, leaving a trail of destruction. A ditch 55-feet lower than the original street level was created in what was once known as Main Street.  

Businesses on Main Street began using their back doors on Bullard Street as main entrances and eventually, were permanently used as the new front entrances. To this day, the incorrect odd/even addressing conventions on the east side of Bullard Street are a reminder that the buildings were addressed on Main Street originally, not Bullard Street. Main Street now ends near the back of the Silver City Police Station, where the Big Ditch Park begins.

Our ditches were full when we arrived home, but I somehow got the 5th wheel backed into the driveway without running the truck into the mud across the street.  (Yes, I have done that before!) 

It took two days, but I was able to get the yard mowed before the rains set in again.  I was delayed by a strong thunderstorm night-before-last that dropped a 30 foot tree top at our front door.  The base of the trunk was about 10 inches in diameter, and although it miraculously missed hitting the house, it only missed the roof by 2 or 3 inches.

Rained all night last night and the back yard has an inch or two of standing water.  Think I’ll take today off.