When I woke up yesterday, there was a strong wind blowing. Occasional gusts would slam into the coach and rock our 30,000-lb. rig. When I took the trash out to the dumpster, I found that the temperature had dropped. The colder air coupled with strong wind cut through and chilled me quickly.

I spent most of the day indoors, reading a book and catching up on other blogs I follow. I ventured out to stroll around the park and get some fresh air a time or two, but it wasn’t comfortable outside. I set up my practice amp and played guitar inside. The wind became stronger as the day wore on. It was blowing at 30 – 35 mph with gusts that were reported to be 50 mph.

Our coach is in a somewhat protected spot. We have a building and a travel trailer on our left and several large RVs on our right. The wind was coming from the southwest and slammed the right front of the coach. The tire cover blew off a few times, I finally gave up on it and left it off.

Last night, around 7:30pm, I drove into town and shopped at Bashas. I stocked up on beer and also bought liquor. When we leave here tomorrow, we’ll go to Lake Powell. We’ll be on the Utah side. Utah is not the place to buy beer or liquor. Retail stores can only sell beer that is 3.2% alcohol by volume (ABV) or lower – 3.2% is watery. It lacks body and is not to my liking. Most beer is normally  4.2 to 5.2% ABV and IPA or other specialty beer is typically 6 – 7% ABV.

In Utah, regular beers and liquors are sold in state-run stores. With no competition, they fix the price and the price is high. So I planned ahead and stocked up. I have an app on my smart phone from the folks at Technomadia called State Lines. This app contains information on every state such as tax rates on purchases and fuel, liquor laws, speed limits and so on. It’s really helpful.

After shopping, I drove to the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport to pick up Donna. Her flight was scheduled to arrive at 8:40pm. I was pleased to find free parking at the airport. She arrived on time and we were home by 9pm.

This morning, the wind subsided. It’s cold though. We ran the propane furnace overnight and kept the coach at 60 degrees. Outside was near freezing. I’ll pack our outdoor gear this morning in preparation for an early departure tomorrow. I’ll also remove and store the tire covers.

I want to have everything put away before noon. This afternoon’s forecast calls for 20mph wind with a 30% chance of a thunderstorm. The humidity is predicted to rise over 40% this afternoon. We haven’t felt humidity in months.

Tonight we’ll go out to a local Mexican restaurant called Salsa Brava. We will have a late anniversary celebration. We weren’t able to celebrate on our actual anniversary date, May 5th, due to Donna’s travel to New York City. Lucky for me, Cinco de Mayo always falls on May 5th, so I never forget our anniversary.

Tomorrow, we’ll head north. I don’t know if we’ll have internet connectivity at Lake Powell. Our plan is to stay there for a couple of nights, then come back into Arizona. We’ll drive east across the Navajo Nation on US160, then head north on US191 back into Utah. Eventually we’ll make our way to Moab.