A few years ago we were in the desert near Amboy, CA. Big ass 5th wheel toy hauler, pointed South. Front end jacked up pretty high to level it. That evening the winds came up out of the west, really hard and gusts well over 60 mph. Wife slept through it, I didn't. I could feel one of the landing gear starting to lift on some of those gusts and then the trailer coming back down on it. Late at night, pitch black otherwise I would have hooked up and moved.
When we were out in the same area in May (unseasonably cool), I parked headed west. Stayed hooked up to the truck and dropped the jacks. When the wind picked up out of the west, barely felt it.
When we go off roading near Cal City, I typically park the 5th wheel perpendicular to the wind - leave the truck hooked up, but at close to 90 degrees to the fifth wheel. Don't feel the trailer move much and blocks the wind pretty well outside. Downside is the wind will swirl around the trailer and draw the smoke from the fire which is downwind, back towards us near the trailer. I built a simple wind block so the water heater doesn't blow out as it is always on the windward side of the trailer when I park like this.
