What the hell???

In the words of the furry philosopher, Isabella.

We were up at 6:30... well, we were awake much of the night - the wind howled like a banshee and we could hear something pelting the side of the coach.  "Probably isn't snow," I thought, "Snow doesn't usually make noise when it hits.  I looked outside: sleeting rain, driven by that nasty northwest wind.  In protected areas, like the side of our slide-out, it was accumulating as snow.

"Yeah, we need to get out of here."

We stopped at the nearby Flying J and topped off the truck; Carl's Jr. to top off my belly.  It was 33º, windy, lightly sleeting.  Not pretty, but not bad...

The goal for the day: make it past Lordsburg, NM, and we will be out of this weather system; about 140 miles.  We started seeing cars in the opposing lanes with snow accumulations.  Not good.  Half way to Las Cruces, it started to snow...

Really snowing...

Turns out that Las Cruces is getting the worst of this system.  The lighted sign on the Interstate said "Road Closed to All Traffic at Exit 132."  We were at mile marker 136.  People were driving crazy, switching lanes and over-driving the conditions.  The snow was coming down so fast that the heat on the roads from the traffic wasn't melting it - ice was accumulating.

I told Joan, "There is a Loves Truck Center at Exit 132 - we'll pull in there and wait this out."

That plan didn't last long: a half mile further, traffic was stopped on the road.  Two Highway Patrol Cars had the road blocked and were diverting traffic off the Interstate at Exit 135.  I saw a sign for a KOA at this exit and asked Jill (the GPS) to navigate us to it.  In the meantime, Joan got on the phone to see if they had a site long enough to accommodate us.

The good news: they have one site left that will handle our length.

The bad news: as we pulled up to the campground, I could see the road into it was uphill and about 4" deep in snow.  I switched Big Red into four-wheel-drive and slowly made our way up the hill... with the occasional slip and slide.  I had to go by the office to get to a level spot, hoping we'd be able to get moving again.

The lady in the office had no idea the roads were closed.  She said, "It is fortunate we have a site left - no one is moving today."

No kidding.  Not the exact words that were in my mind.

I paid, and we pulled into the site.  It is narrow, and deep enough in snow that you can't see where the concrete is to park on.  This is nasty...

We are here until the road opens.

Joan put Izzy's sweater on before taking her out to the truck first thing this morning...

We only have one of our three slides open.  I had repositioned us on the site to be able to get all the slides out, but we are living with just one for right now, hoping that there won't be much more snow accumulation.  The low tonight is supposed to be in the mid-20s.  We have heated tanks, so that shouldn't be an issue, but... everyone say it with me: Cold and Snow SUX!

Little Izzy is looking out the window at the falling snow...

"What the hell??"  Poor little girl is confused.  We drove a grand total of 27 miles.  We put her in a sweater.  Cold and snow.  And now the moving house is only half as wide as it normally is, and it isn't level... "What the hell??"

I'm right there with you, Iz.

On the really bright side: I am guessing the Interstate was closed due to accidents - we weren't involved in that.  We are safely off the road (around 8:30 am).  We have 50 amp power, cable TV, and plenty of food.  Little Izzy is under a blanket on her Momma's lap.  We are watching the Today Show - they are talking about schools closed on the local breaks.  This is only an inconvenience for us; it coulda been way worse.