What time of year for Texas do the powerful winds sieze from the planes?

Too bad the title was just a spelling mistake; I thought it was
unusually poetic; and/or a description of being buzzed.

Anyway, strong winds and storms of various kinds certainly do afflict
Texas. Usually the high steady winds come from winter storm fronts or
from a spring climate phenomenon (should be ending now). That happens
worst on the high plains (you heard about the time out west of Amarillo
when all the cows fell over because the wind STOPPED blowing) and the
desert areas of the southwest.

However, sudden dust storms can happen in a variety of places. A
certain spot on I-40 just west of Grants, NM had a couple of bad ones
last year... attributed to a surprisingly small field of bare dirt near
the road, combined with strong winds. There's also a stretch of I-10 in
western NM that gets bad ones. Some places on I-5 in the San Joaquin
Valley of California are notorious for them as well. And a windstorm
could happen anywhere when conditions are right. You have to be ready.

Besides, "Oooo-kla-homa, where the wind just sort of blows gently
around, more of a light breeze really" would be all out of sync with
the music.

People can and do pull trailers in the areas where you're going -- I've
done it myself a number of times, some of them in a strong or fickle
wind. Rather than enumerate all the places that are provided with an
old-fashioned airport wind sock and a sign that warns high-profile
vehicles to slow down, I'll just give some general advice:

1. Load your trailer properly -- with the right amount of weight bias
toward the hitch, and the center of gravity down low. I've seen people
come close to flipping a trailer, or unable to keep it in just one
lane, just because of bad vehicle dynamics -- no particular help from
the wind.

Make sure the load isn't going to move around inside the trailer, too.
Even if you don't wreck when a load shifts, you could get where you're
going, open it up, and find that some of your possessions are in more
and smaller pieces than you had in mind.

2. A big heavy trailer can push around a light, short-wheelbase tow
vehicle something awful, especially if you were going too fast to start
with. This is one area where a ponderous SUV or pickup truck really
shines.

3. Drive slower. Everything bad that happens with a trailer happens
harder with less time to recover at high speeds. Give yourself a
chance to feel out a comfort zone for both the dynamics of your rig and
the power curve of your engine, with a safety cushion. This makes your
car last longer too.

4. Many people intuitively think that when a trailer starts to
misbehave, they should speed up and somehow straighten things out in
that fashion. This is exactly wrong -- it tends to make things worse.
Slowing down (without hard braking unless circumstances compel it) is
the thing to do.

5. Cultivate the habit of staying even further ahead of the car than
usual -- in particular, so that circumstances *don't* compel hard
braking or maneuvering from highway speed. Even the much reduced
definition of "highway speed" that's appropriate to driving a smallish
car with a trailer on.

6. Allow yourself schedule flexibility. If the weatherman says Arizona
is going to fly through on Tuesday en route to Arkansas, delay your
trip until Wednesday.

Here is some good towing advice:
http://www.searay.com/PDF/Towing_Gui..._2004_Full.pdf


Cheers,
--Joe

Thank You

On 16 May 2005 09:25:34 -0700, "Ad absurdum per aspera"
> wrote:

>
>There's also a stretch of I-10 in
>western NM that gets bad ones.

There are even signs warning you of the possibility.

Are you dyslexic? Do you have difficulty comprehending written
language?

Oh, I'm sorry. I retract that former statement.

I was referring to "L Sternn". I was never referring to myself.

Once again, I do appologize. That was uncalled for.

On 14 May 2005 13:35:15 -0700, wrote:

>NO! I want to hear it straight from the horses mouth. As the saying
>goes, "takes one to know one".

Are you saying you're a Mexican or are you saying you're a racist?

On 18 May 2005 09:23:21 -0700, wrote:

>Are you dyslexic? Do you have difficulty comprehending written
>language?

Hey, you're the one who said it takes one to know one.

I just want to know who you're referring to.