Logger Wayne Lingscheit dreamed of running his own farm, and after Columbia Basin Project irrigation opened a new possibility, he and his wife Gladys moved their family to the Pasco, Washington desert. In Surviving the Sand, his daughter Helen shares her family's hardscrabble yet heartwarming story, chronicling common hardships many faced during the project's early settlement days, as well as simple joys. Most of all, she relates how--despite the heartache, arduous work, and tough times--her family loves, laughs, and works together as they chase her father's seemingly impossible dream.