An Earthquake, A Windstorm & We’re Off To Yuma, AZ

Sunday, we got hit with a 7.2 magnitude earthquake and we were “shakin’, rattlin’ and rollin’” in the desert.  No damage done, but lots of excitement.  Then yesterday, as if a shaker wasn’t enough, a violent windstorm swept thru Desert Hot Springs and we were “rockin’ and rollin’” again. 

What me worry?  Here I am, in late January, standing on the San Andreas Fault

We never felt any aftershocks from Sunday afternoon’s earthquake.  According to the local news here in Palm Springs, this shaker was the strongest one they’ve had here in 20 years.  Just think, in late January, I was at the Thousand Palms Oasis and standing right on the San Andreas Fault line – yeegads, what was I thinking!!

Two picnic tables at the dog park were blown right into the pond

I think the “Weather Gods” are telling us to leave southern California – and, we are listening to them.  Yesterday, we experienced extremely high winds with gusts upwards of 40 mph by early afternoon.  It’s been an interesting final 2 days here.  The winds died down late Monday evening and by the time we pull out Tuesday morning, they are expected to be only 2mph. 

The strong winds pulled this lamp standard right out of its cement foundation

We’ve had a tremendous 3 months here in at the Sands RV Resort, but it was finally time to pull up stakes and head out on the next leg of our journey.  Our first stop, sometime early Tuesday afternoon, will be Yuma, AZ – a place we’ve never been to, so Paulette and I are both looking forward to it.

My satellite tripod, bolted to plywood, never moved at all in the shaker or windstorms

Yuma is only a 3 hour drive from here, so we’re hoping to be there around noon.  We’re only staying there for 1 night before moving on to Benson for a 3 night stay.  So, that will at least give us the entire afternoon and a bit of the evening to have a quick look around Yuma and see some of the sights.  If we find we like it there, and want to see more, we’ll plan on a longer stay next year.

If anyone was camped here at Joshua Tree NP on Sunday – it must have been scary!

Last night, I got a chance to watch the end of the Duke vs Butler NCAA championship game.  I turned it on with about 5 minutes to go and was very much expecting to see Duke well ahead.  Instead, the game was incredibly close and stayed that way until Butler’s last second desperation shot from mid-court bounced off the rim.  Duke won 61-59 to end Butler’s dream run. 

Tuesday morning, all that’s left to do is take down the satellite dish and tripod, the dog fence and then it’s just our normal hitch-up routine.  I’ll have to pay close attention to our trusty checklists as its been a while since we’ve had to perform these tasks.  So, I’ll hopefully be posting from Yuma, AZ Tuesday night.

Have a great Tuesday, and thanks again for visiting!