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Wind and Speed

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Monday was a terribly windy day in Dickinson. We were in a High Wind Warning, and the winds were a steady 40 mph, with gusts up to 60. It stayed pretty windy into the evening. It was cold and miserable, and we had to make a couple of trips to the landfill and drive to a little nearby town to pick up the dog from bring boarded. It didn’t get really windy until after the movers had loaded the truck.

Yesterday was fairly calm on our drive out of town until Bismarck. Then the gusts started up to 39 mph, and the winds were dreadful all the way to Sioux Falls. Husband was driving the pickup and I was in the van with the dog. I am thoroughly sick of wind.

Our mover told us that if it was too windy on Tuesday he wouldn’t be able to drive to Luverne until the wind died down. I passed him near Bismarck, and he appears to have made it to town and will unload today. I drove about 85 mph the whole way to Luverne pushed along by northwest winds. Husband drove about 70 mph and arrived a lot later than I did. We are heartily sick of driving, traveling, and wind. Now we will unpack. Whew!

What are your favorite songs and stories about wind and speed (even slow speed).

56 thoughts on “Wind and Speed”

  6. i was 18 and leaving for banff in november. i had meant to leave earlier but i thought it would be a good idea to learn volkswagen mechanics so i took the engine out and tore it all the way down so i would know how to work on it. i ran into a couple problems that i couldnt solve by noodleing them around in my head and the complete idiots guide to volkswagen maintance i was using as my guide was getting greasy but not giving me what i needed. my problems turned out to be that my fellow traveler who had agreed to be my assistant in the rebuild didnt read the directions wuite as carefully as i did and put a part here and a oart there in incorrectly. ill bet it took an extra month to hit the road. when we finally did it was late november and we stopped in to cousin dans in fargo. he lived in the worlds smallest house with his new wife and their new great dane puppy. it was a bit crowded so i wanted to get out of their way but when we woke up in the morning the whole city was covered in almost sn inch of ice. i started the old vw van which was infamous for terrible heat snd thought id warm it up enough to clear the windshield of ice but an hour of running it made zero progress. while i was chipping away ar trying to make a hole in the ice with a chisel i had in my tool box cousin dan came walking back home without hos car snd said he had slid through a stop sign at the railroad tracks and been hit by a moving train. he wasnt hurt but the front end of the car was all messed up. after i finally chipped a hole in the ice (maybe 12×12 on the windshield with 6×6 holes on the two front side windows ) we headed off in the november aftermath of the storm. it was a strong wind and in fargo by the time the wind hit us it had already had all of north dakota to gett a running start so we had to push on pretty diligently. it was straight in our face and that was lucky because if it was hitting me in the side that bus was like a billboard. luckily in north dakota there are no curves in the road. you just aim for montana and put your foot on the gas pedal and go. the wind hit me in such a way that i had to aim the steering wheel for 10 oclock and balance it just right or the wind would blow me off the road. it was literally white knuckle driving with my hands and shoulders so tight from grabbing the wheel so hard i didnt realize how tight i was holding on until we neared valley city 40 miles out fo town wher the weather cleared, the wind stopped and the sun came out and melted the ice off the van in 10 miles of easy driving. i was relieved but my traveling partner was really relieved. i deduced that the only thing harder than driving in a wind that was wanting to spin you around and put you in the ditch was to be sitting in the passanger seat watching you 18 year old friend drive white knuckled into the wind that wanted to put you in the ditch. winter camping was a very special experience. we had thanksgiving dinner that night in the teddy roosevelt national minument and my friend didnt appreciate the hamburger helper vegetarian style in a cast iron skilket over a campfire we celebrated with. i was determined to move forward but my friend took a while to deal with his homesickness. it took until the pack of wolves surrounded our campsite and howled at us and our new winter camping couple in a fancy winter camping set up who knew the wolves were afrer the food they had in their tent. they moved on the next day. we split firewood

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      1. question I wasn’t waiting. I was completely occupied, taking the engine apart and putting it back together in various chunks to figure out where the problems were. I learned a whole bunch about engines in the process and it turned out. I had to get my brain turned on and by talking to the other mechanics who mentored me along the way it became obvious that it had to be one of a certain number of things and that was probably the best diagnostic help that I had gotten along the way the book teaches you how to fix it The Mechanic brains teach you how to figure it out

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  10. My first choice was “They Call the Wind Mariah,” but tim grabbed that one right outa the gate! I named my kitten Mariah because she tore around the house like she was on fire, and she made an awful sound like folks out there were dying when she yowled. I’ve loved that song since I was a little kid. Anyway, here’s one from Cat Steven’s.

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  13. Ive been busy and missing the chance to comment lately. But yesterday, I thought of this scene from 30 Rock. Jack has a new TV that uses voice recognition.

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      1. No confusion. Broken clavicle on right shoulder. I am left handed.
        If you want to read the obituary my daughter, you can read it on the funeral home webpage. Sturmfh.com

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  17. OT.
    Experience.
    In 1971 my draft number excluded me automatically from service.
    I had already applied for CO status and expected rejection from a very pro war draft board and was ready to be jailed for induction.
    I ending up with a Holding Status.
    The music of that time remains important to me.
    I am now watching Burn’s documentary on the Vietnam War.
    My library has already ordered his upcoming documentary on the Revolutionary War.
    I am number one on the list.
    Sorry for the downer but I hate war yet must try to understand why so many people are committed to it.
    Dust In The Wind?

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    2. I have a lot of trouble posting videos to this blog. I don’t have that trouble in other forums. WP rarely allows me to post the videos with the picture of what it is. Usually it’s just a link. Often it’s not posted at all, and goes into some kind of pergatory.

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  29. “They Call the Wind Mariah” was my first-reaction choice too, like many others on the blog. My first exposure to it was the Kingston Trio version. (Dad likes folk music.)

    Too early for me to think about wind and speed songs in general, but I probably wouldn’t have come up with any songs that no one has mentioned yet. *yawn* (coffee has yet to kick in. I think I have ‘car lag’ as opposed to ‘jet lag.’ Three days of driving (mostly into the wind!) will do that to a body.)

    Chris in Owatonna

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