-=> Quoting Michael Shirley to Earnest Padgette on 07 Apr 98  10:35 <=-
 Re: 2d Amendment Fraud? 
 EP>        I've never really experienced high wind in the desert. Come to
 >        think of it, I've never really been around the desert. Sand and
 >        wind, yes; but not the desert, and certainly nothing like that.
 MS> You can't see anything and it feels like you're being
 MS> sandblasted. Quite nasty, and if you're trying to go anywhere, you're
 MS> going to get lost even with a compass because in the desert, there are
 MS> enough magnetic anomalies that you need to sight on a terrain feature
 MS> and then do a back azimuth on another in order to reestablish both
 MS> true north and the line of declination until you get to the next
 MS> terrain feature when you have to do it all over again.
 MS> Best advice is to sit tight where you're at until it's over
 MS> and just stay warm and hydrated.
 MS> I tend to carry a lot of gear and that includes extra water
 MS> and something to throw over the windshields so that the sand doesn't
 MS> pit them, if I'm in a place where it's prone to that. I had a friend
 MS> who was caught in a storm like that in the Mojave once, and his car
 MS> became undrivable because he couldn't see out of his newly frosted
 MS> windows. Those plastic tarps are cheap insurance against that and they
 MS> don't take up much room.
 MS> Currently, I'm looking at getting one of those Russian copies
 MS> of a Primus stove and throwing it in my pack. It'd be nice to get into
 MS> a dead spot during one of those winds and brew some coffee. There are
 MS> often some rather radical drops in ambient temperature beyond normal
 MS> windchill when a wind like that comes up,.........., even in summer.
I've been through 76-mph desert winds here in El Paso two years ago, and 
the same winds in the Blizzard of '78 in Ohio. I'm hard put to say which 
was worse at the time. The desert winds pick up all the dust and sand. 
Even among the buildings here conditions were unbearable. But OTOH, I 
wasn't concerned about freezing to death. Though you don't worry so much 
about a blizzard damaging your paint or your windows...
Afterwards, the blizzard was worse. It took use months to dig out from 
that, literally. After the sandstorm here, life was back to normal 
quickly (except for those who needed to repair their roofs).
I have never been through 76-mph winds during a hurricane, but I'd be 
willing to bet they aren't that much fun either.
Steve
... An honest government wouldn't fear armed citizens.
--- GEcho 1.00
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