Weather-Wise

In Amarillo the rain came fast and furious. The temperature was in the 30s, and I sent strong waves of intention to the weather gods, willing the rain to stop. It did. Then came snow, icy torrents, hail and slush. Sideways. I had been hoping for some of that Southwest dry heat. Nope. 

We drove toward Albuquerque, checking the weather app every five minutes. I love the way we depend on weather apps. We wake up in the morning and, instead of going outside to see what it feels like, we look at the app. If we are outdoors and, say, we feel cold, we check the app to tell us the temperature. It’s not enough to shiver. We need our experience validated by the number the app gives us. 

Or, we keep checking the app in the hopes that it will tell us the conditions will improve. As we neared Albuquerque with the freezing cold wet blasting across the highway, the app was saying that it was 56 degrees and clear in Albuquerque. Whew!

As we entered the city the weather had not changed. Neither had the information on the app. What’s wrong with this weather? Doesn’t it know what it’s supposed to be?

We were going to camp in the van that night as we usually do, but we began to waver. Our camper is designed for us to live outside most of our waking hours. And we do! And in New Mexico in March that is what we were expecting.

But tonight we would be standing out in the storm while cooking and preparing for the evening. We did have the option of renting a bare bones cabin instead. We would have a porch where we could cook and wash dishes, and we would stay warm and dry the whole evening (mostly). 

It is not a simple decision to spend the night outside of the van. First, the whole reason we have it is to live in it, not just drive it from place to place. If we own it we are going to use it and like it, dammit! Second, renting the cabin costs $30 more than renting the campsite. What did I do to deserve to spend that extra money on my personal comfort? Can I justify it? Third, and the most troubling question of all: am I simply a wimp?

What finally got me was the death bed argument. When I am looking at The Other Side am I going to say “I sure am glad I froze to death that night in Albuquerque”?

Life is short.

We sprung for the cabin. As we moved our stuff in the weather cleared and the wind died down. For a moment. I thought we might have made a mistake by doing the cushy thing. Then, the skies opened. Yes! Rain, come on down! All through the night it pounded the tin roof. And you know how, on a windy night sometime in the early hours it starts to die down, then the sun comes out and everything looks washed and clean? That didn’t happen. In the morning we woke to two inches of icy snow on the ground, and the 20 mile per hour winds had not let up.  It continued on into the day. We climbed into the van and slowly and carefully made our way west. We drove through most of the day. Finally the sun emerged and blue skies reigned. We arrived in Flagstaff.