More timing...

We are down for the night in beautiful Deming, New Mexico.  We managed to skirt rainstorms along the way.  To a point.

We watched the weather forecast on one of the Phoenix TV stations, and planned our departure.  Between the rainstorm cells.  Amazingly, we stayed dry.  Stopped for a breakfast sandwich in Casa Grande...

A bit further down the road, we stopped at a Flying J for fuel.  Heading out, we could see a cell right in the area we just left...

Heading east out of Tucson, we saw this interesting view of light and shadows ahead...

Yep, rain clouds looking to the north while we were heading east...

Another pretty view...

Leaving Arizona, and into New Mexico...

Rain ahead.  Joan checked it out on radar - looks like it will move across by the time we get to that area...

The wind kicked up - if it had been dry, I have no doubt this sign would have been valid...

Looking towards Lordsburg, New Mexico, we could see a quickly building storm.

Checking radar again, we pulled into a rest area on the west side of town and waited for that cell to move north of the Interstate.  It was a good stop - we ran into some wet road, but stayed out of the nasty stuff.  We are having good luck dodging the bad weather.

I called ahead for an RV site at a park in Deming, New Mexico.  I asked the lady on the phone, "You aren't under water are you?"  (The very first time we stayed at this park in 1991, we were ankle-deep after a rainstorm.)

She laughed and said, "No.  I think the rain missed us today."

We rolled on, pulled into the park just in time for a light sprinkle.  By the time I went into the office and got us registered, it was dry again.  Since we are just down for the night, I only hooked up electric and cable TV.  The surge protector we have on our powercord has a two minute delay while it analyzes the power, before turning power on to the coach.  With the jacks down and slide-outs out, I connected the cable TV, and Joan said, "Did you forget to turn on the power at the pedestal?"

I went out to check it - the surge protector was flashing: "Open Ground."  I walked to the office and asked if we could change sites.  She apologized and said they'd get someone out as soon as possible to fix the pedestal, but yes, we could change sites.

Slides in, jacks up, power and cable disconnected, we moved a couple sites down - all good here...

We texted Steph to let her know we were down for the night.  She called - let us know that they are stuck at school - the rain came down so heavy that the school buses couldn't run (water over the roads)... the staff was waiting for parents to pick up about 50 kids.

I was just about ready to take Izzy for a walk when I heard a loud "growling" sound coming from the southeast sky... "Shut everything down!  Something ugly is coming!"  I thought it might be a tornado, but within seconds, I could see hail coming our way.  I shut the door - the pounding sound was so loud, I could not hear myself when I hollered for Izzy... she was in the bedroom and freaked: running to the front, then running to the back, then burrowed under the bedspread.  Traumatized.

Nothing we could do, but look out the windows.  I fully expected our skylight and overhead vents to get smashed.  It came down for about 10 minutes...

When it let up, I went out to check for any obvious damage... I also expected our cargo trailer (all aluminum) to be peppered.  The running board on the passenger side was about 6 inches deep in hail.  Most of it was marble sized, some bigger.  I will check again tomorrow in better light, but I didn't see anything obvious dented or broken.

The couple with the travel trailer next to us wasn't as fortunate: their overhead vents both broke.  I offered garbage bags and duct tape, but he had his own.  Looking around, I could see other people taping over broken vents.

That hit so fast, we didn't have time to pull in the slide-outs.  I'll be checking the slide awning tomorrow, too.

So much for that "not being ankle-deep in water"...

We called Steph back now that we could hear... their kids have all been picked up and they are on their way home.  Quite the weather today.

Yes, Izzy came out from hiding.  She played with her toys.  She would like to go for a walk, but it is a muddy mess out there.