11:20 AM Wednesday December 29, 2004

What do you do when you're driving down the road at 50 MPH and the 16' awning attached to the side of your motorhome comes unfurled? Oh yes, did I mention that the wind is gusting up to 40+ MPH outside and you're on a freeway going uphill with hardly any shoulder? We had been driving through the Algodones Dunes rubbernecking all the motorhomes boondocking in the desert when we heard the sickening sound of one side of the awning breaking loose. We had been feeling the affects of this strong wind out of the south, a phenomenon brought on by the high pressure system bringing the storm into southern CA from the north (one of the newsmen explained it but I'm not doing a very good job repeating it). Anyway, Phil had been steering into it all the way from El Cajon in order to keep us in our own lane and somehow, he managed to get most of the motorhome off the road and stopped. It was obvious once he went outside that he needed help so I put my shoes and coat on and tried to get out the door. The wind was blowing so hard I could barely get it open enough to squeeze through but I put my weight into it (ha!) and made it out. To make a long story short, we struggled with it for what seemed like an hour then without any explanation (Have you ever fought with a window blind and trying to get it to roll up when out of the blue it goes up of it's own volition?) it rolled up! When it was open and we were holding the side bars down, at times it was lifting both of us off the ground and I was so scared I was sure it was going to rip off the motorhome and take us with it! Phil used bungee cords to strap the struts together and we drove very slowly to the Grays Well reststop where Phil added additional strapping so we could continue on to Yuma. After maneauvering through the construction on the street where our RV park was located, we arrived safe and sound, exhausted but thankful to be in one piece. Now, we're waiting for the wind to stop so we can assess any damage. I'll keep you posted!