I am fascinated with weather. One of the things that fascinate me is dust devils; those little whirlwinds that dance across fields kicking up dust along the way. They rarely cause any damage, and usually occur when the weather is good. The first time that I saw one was when I was a young girl in Upstate New York. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it had quite a crowd encircling it, watching. Since then I have seen dust devils on several occasions, once having two or three of them cross a field and pass right in front of my vehicle. I wondered what it was like inside one of these vortices. I determined that if I was ever given the opportunity I would like to experience the inside of a dust devil first hand.
My opportunity arose at the Battle of Honey Springs in Rentiesville, OK one September several years ago. I was reenacting as a civilian that weekend. It was hot out and we were trying to keep from overheating. I was sitting around in camp when I observed one of these funnels kick up and blow across the field. I had to run to catch it, placing myself right in the middle of the vortex.
I forgot that I was wearing a hoop skirt. The experience was hard to describe, but the effect was that of Marilyn Monroe’s windy grate experience. Those whirling winds whisked my skirt up and threatened to embarrass me. Maybe my billowing skirts changed the direction of the air flow but whatever the reason; it suddenly dissipated leaving me none the worse for the wear, and with yet another funny story about reenacting.
