Austin Pass

Today I drove back home, and took "the scenic route".  Actually the main road was closed in order for an oversized and overwide piece of equipment to be transported down the road.  Traffic was being stopped in town.  I took the back road out of town and made my way home via a less traveled road.  I ended up on Highway 50, which is known as "the loneliest highway in America".  I think that is mostly true since I only saw three other cars on the highway the rest of my trip. 

There are several passes to drive over, including Austin Pass.  I pulled off the road for a few minutes to just enjoy the mountain air and took a few photos.  This is very near the top.  It was incredibly windy so this was a hand held shot taken just a few feet from my vehicle.  

A little further down the road the wind got much worse.   As I came down another pass, I noticed a dust storm to the north.  I pulled off the road and took a photo (see extra).  Behind all that dust is another mountain range with snow capped peaks over 8700 ft (2600 m).  

I got back in my car thinking that I could probably make it across the valley and down the road before the dust storm hit.  Well, I was wrong. About 5 minutes after I took this shot, I was completely enveloped in the dust storm and could barely see the road.  The wind was howling and shaking my vehicle so badly that I had to reduce my speed to almost a crawl.  An hour later, I made it out of the storm.  I expected to see my vehicle totally sandblasted, but surprisingly, it wasn't.  I am very thankful to my husband for making sure that my vehicle is carefully waxed and polished so often.  

The rest of my trip was uneventful and I made it home at sunset.  The pups were so happy to see me and so was my husband.  

Also, I loaded yesterday's photo, so take a look. (Yes, I know it is a backblip, but I think it is worth a look).