Catch Us Later!: RIVER OF NO RETURN

Check Off List and a "Haboob".

As we left the Salmon River today, Steve and I were reminiscing about other rafting trips and "rivers we have know". I got out a pen and paper and started making my own list of rivers. My only qualification is that i have actually been down the river on a boat, a raft, a log, or something that floats. Driving across a river on a bridge would not count. I am sure there are more, but at the bottom of this post is a list so far and the times if I have been on them more than once. It was fun.

As we crossed into Eastern Washington, it was hot! hot! hot! Typical in August. We spotted a very strange sight and at first thought it was another forest fire, as it did look smokey from a distance. As we got closer I could see "lightening strikes in it" and "the Thing" was actually moving like a giant wall and blocking out the sun and vista. We did not know it at the time, but we were about to be enveloped in a "Haboob".........a giant spectacular moving dust storm of many many miles! While not that common in WA state, the name Haboob is taken from the Arabic habub which means intense dust storm. They are common in Arizona and Saudia Arabia. This was was pretty intense and our visibility was soon reduced. The cars we did see had headlights on, and some trucks and cars were pulled over because of the strong wind gust and blowing wheat shaft and dirt. Steve said the wind gusts were about 60 -70 MPH! It was horrible, and we had no cell phone coverage and the GPS wouldn't even work. It was still hot out and our car was filling up with fine fine dust. I was hating every minute, but Steve said he LOVED it as an adventure he had never had before. We rode through it for almost 2 hours and here pretty exhausted when we finally get clear of the bad part. We decided to get a quick bite and find a hotel room and clean up and rest and finish driving the next morning. That was a great decision and I was happy to find jacuzzi in our room to whirl away all the dust and tenseness I was feeling!