Hello Goodbye

So, something amazing happened last week. It. rained.  Not only did it rain, but it rained for at least a solid fifteen minutes.  We came about this freak desert rainstorm whilst we were out "wadi bashing," a term that makes insurance adjusters and my mom cringe.  As my friend Brady and I were heading out from town, he mentioned that if one didn't know better, they might think that it was raining off in the distance.  We both responded to that comment with various hmms and other sounds that intimate one is considering whatever was just mentioned, but we both knew that it wasn't really raining.  Because of this, we diverted our attention back to trying to find the appropriate wadi to bash (according to Emily Post's fourth edition, bashing the wrong wadi is considered a great faux pas).

As we approached our turn-around point (read blew past), we noticed that the "rainstorm" was still going on in the distance.  We came to the conclusion that it must be a sandstorm, something I had never seen in person, and decided to experience the desert's version of rain.  The only problem was that our sandstorm theory quickly disintegrated when Brady saw a lightning bolt.  It was actually raining.

First, the breeze picked up, and blew the smell of rain across the blacktop and through the jeep.  Then it started to sprinkle.  This only lasted for a couple of seconds before we were being pelted by giant drops of water.  It was great.  One humorous thing that accompanies rain, or any sort of liquid on the road, is watching the locals panic.  The man in front of me slowed down to less than five miles an hour, and another one pulled off the road completely.  It's not unlike that day each year where the roads in Dallas are "icy," and so the state shuts down.  It was also around that time that something with windshield wipers decided to go on strike.  Apparently, they had grown quite accustomed to their time off, and didn't really feel like going back to work.  This was circumvented by turning the wipers on and off again (if the relay was bad, why not break the switch as well?).

The storm was over shortly, and within about the same time frame, half of the town had driven the 25 minutes (though they made it there in 7) to join their friends in panicking over road conditions, getting their suv's stuck in the mud, and having an all-around good time.  Sadly, because I was driving, I didn't get to take any pictures of the storm proper, but I took a few that show the tail end and the after effects.

This was the valley that we drove through (you can see the road on the right) and the tail end of the storm.

 

Brady decided upon a walkabout after the storm.

This was after the tornado and the creepy woman on the bicycle.

It still amazes me that anything (or anyone) lives here.

To the best of my knowledge, wadis are a lot like arroyos (sometimes they even come in color).

Brady had to sneak in one last John Eldredge moment before we went back to town.