70 mph wind gusts in Dodge City

[seeg]

Heading home after 2 months on the road and decided to stop for the night in Dodge City. The kids were walking the dogs and I was upfront putting a route in for Canon City,Colorado (Royal Gorge) when I noticed this huge black cloud approaching. Literally w/i seconds the kids come flying back to the RV and grabbed the camping chairs so they wouldn't get blown into the side of the coach. The dogs didn't need to be encouraged to come inside.

I had the jacks down and the coach was shaking like hell. Both slide covers on the side exposed to the wind were flapping so vigorously I thought they were going to rip. Thinking that 8 points of contact with the ground were better than 4 I retracted the jacks. Seemed to help. I then aired up the suspension and pulled in both drivers side slides and we rode it out. Derek found the forecast on line: a line of thunderstorm with wind gusts to 70 or more, hail large enough to damage cars and mobile homes, and driving rain. All I could think about were my aluminum awning covers ala Gary. The storm lasted about an hour but we slept with the slides in just to be sure. Thankfully no damage but on our way East the next morning we saw an overturned 5th wheel in an rv park off of US 50. Lots of sideways rain but no hail. This storm formed so quickly we couldn't avoid it. Could have been worse and the last thing I needed was another $1000 deductible and a trip back to S&S. More on that later

[Gary.Jones]

Glad you had good luck. Congrats!

Gary

[GCSuper]

We went thru and survived 50-60 mph winds in Big Bend last year, but unlike a line of storms, these lasted all nite. It was nerve racking to say the least. We kept it on the jacks and pulled in the big slide. No damage but it was a long night

[Rollin101]

Originally Posted by seeg

Heading home after 2 months on the road and decided to stop for the night in Dodge City. The kids were walking the dogs and I was upfront putting a route in for Canon City,Colorado (Royal Gorge) when I noticed this huge black cloud approaching. Literally w/i seconds the kids come flying back to the RV and grabbed the camping chairs so they wouldn't get blown into the side of the coach. The dogs didn't need to be encouraged to come inside.

I had the jacks down and the coach was shaking like hell. Both slide covers on the side exposed to the wind were flapping so vigorously I thought they were going to rip. Thinking that 8 points of contact with the ground were better than 4 I retracted the jacks. Seemed to help. I then aired up the suspension and pulled in both drivers side slides and we rode it out. Derek found the forecast on line: a line of thunderstorm with wind gusts to 70 or more, hail large enough to damage cars and mobile homes, and driving rain. All I could think about were my aluminum awning covers ala Gary. The storm lasted about an hour but we slept with the slides in just to be sure. Thankfully no damage but on our way East the next morning we saw an overturned 5th wheel in an rv park off of US 50. Lots of sideways rain but no hail. This storm formed so quickly we couldn't avoid it. Could have been worse and the last thing I needed was another $1000 deductible and a trip back to S&S. More on that later

We stayed at gunsmoke in Dodge City Thursday night and the manager said they had 70 mph winds previous night.

[Arch Hoagland]

Went to Dodge City twice....the first time and the last time.

It was back in the early 90's and when we pulled into town I saw a tent set up next to the road with a sign that said "Hail Damage Repair" Went to it and asked what the deal was.

They said they followed hail storms in Kansas and made their living repairing storm damage. Wow....never heard of that.

Went on to our campground in Dodge and discovered what low campground power will do to air conditioners... four people had their air conditioners destroyed when the campground power dropped under 100 volts. Mine wasn't on as they warned me when I drove in.

So we went to take a tour of the Dodge City mock up for the TV show. I forget the price but it was sky high so we didn't take the tour.

So that was my first and last time there. Seems things haven't changed too much.

[Craneboy302]

Was parked on the Colombia river south of I-90 & the wind was probably 50mph.
Was parked with the stern, sorry back pointed toward the wind. My cousin opened the door & it got away from him & got bend back. The hinges got bend so we have to slam the door now.

[mike625]

If you didn't like that - stay out of carlsbad nm in the winter, spend two weeks there and most of the time it was 15 to 45 mph with a top speed of 68 measured at the campground weather station.

[seeg]

Originally Posted by Rollin101

We stayed at gunsmoke in Dodge City Thursday night and the manager said they had 70 mph winds previous night.

Yep, that was us. Sorry we missed you, in more ways than one. Oh and we headed West not East.