The wind and rain clouds were rolling in over Las Cruces as we arrived in the late afternoon. Though we’d already canceled camp sites on this trip because of weather, we decided to pitch camp anyway and hope for the best. After dinner, we headed straight to our next camping site at Leasburg Dam State Park, outside Las Cruces.
Each campsite has a concrete pad so we had no problem setting up. As we were going to be here for a single night, we attached the tent to the back of the Subaru, extending the living space and making it considerably easier to get to things if the weather got bad.
That night, a hellacious storm dumped rain with heavy wind. It was so gusty that the tent made flapping noises all night. Furthermore, thunder boomed overhead and lightning crackled and lit up the tent. But the topper was the train that was some distance away but sounded as if the tracks were right next to our tent, an illusion of the night air. The conductor also saw fit to toot the whistle every time the train roared by. It was by far the most restless sleep we ever had camping.
The following morning, all was quiet though ominous storm clouds still hovered overhead. It was nonetheless a spectacular canopy just as the sun was rising.
In the morning, we packed up our wet tent and, based on a weather prediction of more rain, decided to cancel the reservation we had for the next two nights at a campsite in Alamogordo.
zoomeboshi 
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