A Lakeside Town

Lordsburg is known for its sandstorms. Yep, that is their 'claim to fame.' A few miles west of town are four dry lake beds--very large dry lake beds. They are called North Tobosa Lake, South Tobosa Lake, Antelope Lake and Playa de los Pinos. Interstate 10 bisects South Tobosa Lake, the largest one.  These dry lakes are oriented northwest to southeast. Playa de los Pinos straddles the Arizona border.  Frequently, the motels in Lordsburg fill up when dust storms rage for hours on end. At the same time, motels in Willcox, Arizona, 67 miles west of Lordsburg, also fill up when the sandstorms are out of control.
  A few years ago, The Weather Channel, on the series "Storm Stories," did a story about a multi-car pileup that resulted from one of these epic sandstorms. The epicenter of this particular sandstorm was in Arizona, between the moribund towns of Bowie and San Simon. These towns are between Willcox, Arizona and the dry lake beds. The effects of these sandstorms reach far and wide across the area.
  I experienced one of these epic storms myself one time when I was on vacation in the late 1990s. I had already been hearing radio reports about the raging sandstorm west of Lordsburg, but when I got my first glimpse of it after cresting the Continental Divide 24 miles northeast of Lordsburg, I was stunned! I have driven this highway several other times and I have always admired the view from the crest of the Continental Divide on State Highway 90 between Lordsburg and Silver City. Usually, this lookout affords a fantastic view of the Animas Mountains, south of Lordsburg; the Peloncillo Mountains, west of Lordsburg (near the Arizona border) and even the famous Chiricahua Mountains, which are about 40 miles away in southeast Arizona. I could not see any of these mountain ranges on that day. I could not even see the Pyramid Hills, which are only one mile south of Lordsburg! The interstate crosses South Tobosa Lake between exits 5 and 9 ( 5 miles and 9 miles from the Arizona border) and eastbound traffic was backed up from roughly milepost 6 (according to the radio reports) and San Simon, Arizona; 18 miles away! This lake is about 10 miles west of Lordsburg.
  I was forced to get a motel room in Lordsburg even though I arrived in town at 2:30 in the afternoon! Fortunately I was able to get a room, one of few left in town. I got a room on the beleagured stretch of Motel Drive (Old U.S. Highway 80) at a motel that is surrounded by abandoned buildings and across the street from a busy railroad. It was not the best of accommodations, but at least I was out of the dust. Traffic on the interstate was backed up all the way through Lordsburg! The sandstorm had started at approximately 10:00 that morning and raged out of control until about 1:30 the next morning. When I went out and drove around town or went to eat dinner or go to a convenience store, I had to put a shirt in front of my face to keep dust out of me mouth, nose and eyes. I got an idea of what it was like during the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. The next morning, when I went to eat breakfast before checking out of my room, I had a very thick coating of dust on my truck and I had to thoroughly clean the windows before I could drive away. There was even a fine coating of dust was all over the inside of my truck also!