What the.....?

As this is a family-friendly blog I'll let you fill in the blank in the title but I definitely did when, after going to bed Mother's Day evening in the Tank on BLM land outside of Salida, CO....

Sunny and low 70's....what pretty blue skies!

...I awoke in what seemed like January 12 to some hellish landscape.

Poor Wally!  He never signed up for THIS.

The Tank's wall thermometer informed me that it was 38 degrees....INSIDE the camper.  I willed myself to get out from under the bed covers and turn on the propane heater (boondocking so no electric hookups.)

The Snow Tank.

Speaking of electric I noticed a curious thing...the solar charge monitor was showing the Tank's solar panels were charging the battery even though...

The "bumps" towards the front are the solar panels.

...the panels were under 3 inches of snow.  Diffusion?  Delusion more likely.  I was camped next to the Arkansas River which couldn't have been much above 32 degrees as it flowed by.

The fast flowing Arkansas River.  Probably makes Grape Creek seem like a warm bath!

Being mobile I quickly concluded the best course of action was to "mobile" west on Highway 50 and try to get out from under the nasty front, but I still could appreciate the beauty around me as I packed up the Tank.

Christmas trees!  Except it's May 12th.

I made for a National Recreation Area west of Gunnison, CO that has electric hookups which took me over the Monarch Pass and down a 6% grade that had curves that appeared either wet or icy.  Fortunately the Colorado DOT trucks were out sanding Highway 50 and the wet spots were indeed wet, not icy.  The Tank got filthy from all the dirt spray from the sanded spots but filthy beats the heck out of "no traction" on a 6% downward curve in the mountains!

Thanks for reading!