I got to El Mirage about 9:30 Sat morn. I drove by the course prep people & headed over to the north/west corner where my buddies had a camp set-up. I was getting warm, about 95 by noon. I did a couple runs along the west end on the bike I just got finished, just to make sure it would be ready for this weekend.
We could see the weather coming in from the east. Rain clouds & lightning. The first rain came in the afternoon. You could smell it about an hour before it hit. First, large drops that quickly absorbed in the lake bed. Then they came fast & furious. It went from nothing to a deluge in about 30 seconds. In about another 15 seconds, the hail started. 1/4" diameter, so we ran behind the trailer for shelter. The wind was blowing and it rained for maybe 45 minutes and passed. There was a bit of water being blown around the lake bed by the wind, it would shift around the edges of the lake. Seemed to dry out pretty good, but we could see rain all round E.M.
About 7:30 pm, the second set of storms came. It seemed as though the rain would pummel us & move west, then the wind would shift & it would pummel us again, move the the south, change course & come get us again. By now the entire lake was flooded as far as we could see. Lightning was all around, at least giving us something nice to look at. The rain stopped about 8:30 & most people called it a night by 11pm. But the rain just waited until it could catch us sleeping outside. It rained around midnight & again about 1am. Luckily, the fire kept alive till morning to dry out the wet ones.
Tried to leave Sun morn by skirting the lake to the entrance, but I have a 2-wheel drive pick-up with a trailer and I was worried about getting stuck. The east end was flooded as far as I could see, but the west end was mostly dry. I went to Calloway's to get off the lake bed & he gave me & my nephew from Boston the 25 cent tour ( way better than the nickel tour).
With the heat this week & a little wind, the lake bed should be in great shape for the meet.
Matt Shuss
