Well, yesterday did not really end with going to bed. Throughout the evening the wind picked up immensely. I had to go out every 30 minutes to readjust the storm lines of the tent...

It's shaking like crazy. On top, everything is covered in a thick layer of red, fine sand that the wind is blowing into my tent. Even sand between my teeth. Imagine someone pours a bucket of cinnamon over you in your bed and you get a pretty good idea.

Between the gusts I catch a few minutes of sleep every now and then. Hour by hour passes... Phew, that's not how I imagined my little getaway in the Valley of the Gods.

By 1AM the gusts get so heavy that Klaus, who is heavily leaned against a rock next to the tent with all his weight, is pushed over and on to my tent. I guess that also gives you an idea of the wind... I can't believe my luck that the tents stays fine.

By 2AM the gusts get so heavy that I am truly worried by now. In my perception it is just a matter of time and the tent will break. I feel like in a washing machine.

By 2:30AM it becomes evident for me, that I have to find another place. On a whim I jump out in a rather calm minute, dressed in my underwear and my rain jacket, pull out the tent sticks and carry the tent with everything inside into the wash out close by. It just started snowing - a proper snow storm enfold within seconds. After relocating a second time I am back in my tent.

Now, I am covered in red mud. During my relocation efforts some sleet and snow entered the tent. Everything that was once covered in red sand dust is now covered in red mud. My sleeping bag and pad, everything. My once white silk liner looks like I am having some serious digestion issues and not being able to hold them... gross! However, figuratively it's pretty accurate... I am sh*tting my pants right now.

While pushing the tent against the storm with one hand and eating through my candy supplies with the other I keep the spirits up with some black humor. With that I endure another 4 hours before the snow storm slows down to an extend that I fall asleep in the morning hours [with a liter of chocolate milk, one bag of gummy bears and half a chocolate bar in my stomach].

By 8AM I relocate the tent a third time for the new wind direction. The snow stopped and the sun is warming. I manage to get another 4 hours of sleep until noon.

The rest of my "day off" is spent with more sleep, trying to clean up everything and wandering around a little bit in the area close to my tent. Not how I imagined this day to be but I find my peace with the situation fairly quickly. A bummer though, that I ate through most of my candy supplies in the last night.