Dust and Wind

Cedarville is only a few hundred residents, and when I asked at the gas station if he knew anyone who could rent me a leaf blower for an hour, he said, "...No leaf blowers here, the wind does it for us..." (Later in the day I found out how true that is....)

So drove over the pass to Alturas and rented a powerful blower from Ace hardware.  Found a big parking lot near the fairgrounds with no houses  nearby.  Unloaded the plane and started the blower.  Must have inhaled half the dust cause I couldn't hold my breath long enough in there, but boy it did make a dust storm!  There's still a fine layer everywhere, cause that's the nature of this dust, and boundary layer aerodynamics...  Really needed a broom to tickle it loose while blowing it away.....  But, it's a heck of a lot better now.....

By the time I'd finished all that, a strong wind had come up.  When I tried to go back over the pass to Cedarville, the wind was really blasting wild up in the pass, and I could see dust flying off the dry lake beds, so turned around and headed back down.




I really did want to stay up in the high desert and go through Nevada by way of the Black Rock Desert and follow on down past that big, secret military Area 51, but the forecast now said that this wind was going to intensify and blow for a week....  All that country would be wild and dusty, and no chance of flying in the time that I have left, so reluctantly changed course to go down into the Central Valley of California and head for my end point.....

I detest the drive down this valley, done it too many times, all flat and all enormous fruit and nut orchards, lots of fast traffic, and far too many people.  And different people from country areas I've been through.  Gotta really lock my doors now, and just moved my rig across this Walmart parking lot cause of some 'strays' sleeping rough and drinking in the landscaping alongside the lot.....

It'll be a l-o-n-g, tedious day tomorrow, but at least on the interstate I-5 I can really cover some miles.  But still frustrating, cause in California the speed limit for anyone towing is 55mph, and that feels really slow when everyone else is going by at 70.....

But enough complaining, a shot of EJ brandy and so to bed, doors locked....