Just a note about the photos 030 and 031...In 2002 this incredible derecho rose up on the plains in the panhandle of Oklahoma.  Small in comparison to the Dust Bowl days, no doubt, but this event did give me a taste of what the settlers must have encountered in those times.  The huge dust storm eventually overtook us and at 6:00 in the afternoon the countryside turned to as black as night...my windshield had to be replaced because it was literally sandblasted.  We sat in complete and total darkness for 15 to 20 minutes before a mere 100 ft visibility showed that a streetlamp was visible at a local farmstead.  The darkness had turned on the lights.  I've never seen anything like it since.

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