Most of you have seen the news about the storms in the Southeast and I mentioned in an earlier post that we had decided not to leave on Monday because our proposed paths would intersect. Well, we didn’t have to get on the road - the storms came to us! Boy, were they doozies! If you haven’t seen this USA article check it out as it is a pretty good rendition of what happened: http://usat.ly/1kt3t47
On Tuesday morning we were awakened at 3:15am by thunder and lightening and torrential rain pounding the RV. It kept us up until it passed over around 5:30am. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning with a tornado watch. We packed up our important stuff (computer, meds, food for Maggs, and wallets, etc.) and set the bags by the door. We spent that time checking our many weather phone apps and TWC on TV. The RV still leaks around the bedroom slider, so Rog spent time sopping up the water with towels and then trying to fix the issue. We were quite nervous to say the least. The rain diminished and we had a fairly dry afternoon. Roger had put all our outside stuff away on Monday in anticipation of the storm so that was all done. He returned the rental car and picked up the truck from the auto shop on base during the lull in the weather. I kept busy with household chores. When I took Maggs out for her afternoon walk I could hear and see the white caps on the bay and surf pounding at the beach. The wind was really howling at that time.
Then, it hit light a freight train about dinner time. The storm cells just started rolling in one right behind the other and all of them aimed at us! Rain, hail, lightning, thunder and high winds. Did I mention rain? Wow, there was a lot of rain. It was coming down so hard that you couldn’t see out the windows - absolutely zero visibility. The power kept going out and coming back and we felt like sitting ducks in the tin can we call an RV. Very scary. After dark it got worse - winds were clocked at about 60mph in this area and since we are in a tree filled RV park, I was sure we were going to have, if not the whole tree next to us, at least some of the branches come down. Surprisingly, nothing. Leaves and pine cones but no branches or trunks - we lucked out there for sure.
There was a tornado warning siren on the base and people headed for the only structure around - the bath house/laundry facility. Unfortunately it’s wooden and not brick so I’m not sure how much help that it would be. About half the folks in the park showed up. The tornado possibility turned out to be in downtown Pensacola and up near where Andy lives on the other side of the interstate. We were quite worried for them. Once we got power again, we saw that the threat had moved on eastward, thank goodness.
It started raining again, and hard, just before five yesterday evening and it never let up until after eight this morning. It was like being in a room with strobe lights there were so many lightning strikes. (I was told this morning that it did hit somewhere on the road just outside the RV park - I remember that one, it scared the you-know-what out of us.) By the time we went to bed around 10, the rain had completely soaked the carpet in the bedroom on my side of the bed. We pulled the slider in for the night in hopes that it would prevent any more water from finding the leak. Noise was phenomenal - so loud in our tin can that we (even with hearing aids in) couldn’t hear each other if we weren’t right next to the other person’s ear. All of this being closed in the RV with the storm happening did not help Roger’s claustrophobia, either. I kept offering to give him some of Maggie’s anti-anxiety pills! He slept for about five hours (with his sleep meds) but I was up and down during the night - every time a really noisy cell hit it would wake me from a not so sound sleep. We have two of those flashlight/nightlight combos where if the power goes out the flashlight comes on. Well, I kept waking up because it was so light in the RV and I couldn’t figure out why. The power was off and the flashlights were on . . . and REALLY bright.
I have been so impressed with Maggie when it storms. It doesn’t seem to bother her at all. She’s been so unphased about it - just doesn’t like going out in the rain - so when she started being anxious last night it was a surprise. She knew how bad it was. One of our rules is no dog in or on the bed, but last night we put her “day” bed on our bed down at the foot and put her in it. A couple of real thunder bumpers later, she was curled up between us and under Roger’s arm. She did not like the noise and light show at all. She’s taking lots of naps today.
Roger just came in - seems that the inside of the truck has water in it. Nice. Like we haven’t got enough water everywhere else. Everything is damp and clammy to the touch. Yuck!
Our last plan was to leave today but that isn’t happening. We are exhausted, first of all, and secondly, the roads are flooded and/or washed out. Even here on the base, the road to the back gate where RVs and trucks enter, the main road has been undercut and washed out. Reports are that the road from the interstate to down here at the base is flooded. Also, I-10 has been closed from our exit to the Alabama border due to flood related accidents. So, I called the KOA in Baton Rouge this morning and told her who we are and that we had reservations for tonight but we were still in Pensacola. “Oh, honey, y’all don’t worry about a thing. I’ll just move you to tomorrow and if you can’t make that just call me and we will work things out.”
We have also decided that we are going straight home. No side trips for diamond hunting or genealogy research. We always like returning from a trip by taking a different route and had planned on heading north out of Louisiana to connect with I-80 in Kansas, but thats not going to be a happening thing. We are hopping on I-10 tomorrow and pointing that truck west!!! We may work our way up to I-40 at Amarillo or Albuquerque instead of going all the way to California, but weather will dictate. It is shorter than our original plan - only 2,300 miles. We will likely drive three days, then stop for a day, then drive two or three and stop again for a day of rest and provisioning. Like a horse heading for the barn - we will be on autopilot!
Andy’s house suffered some minor flooding in the converted garage room but he says he has all the water out this morning. They are dealing with the back yard being so saturated that the septic is giving them fits. Pam’s mom had to call 911 at about 2am to be rescued and taken to a shelter. Her house is under 5 or 6 inches of water and the streets in her neighborhood are impassable. Andy picked her up from the firehouse where they sheltered her and took her home to their place. He’s not sure when he’ll be able to get over there to help her clean up. Needless to say both Andy and Pam are not working today at their jobs. Andy just called and said that Pam’s mom’s house is a disaster and will need professional clean-up action. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have flood insurance. They will try to salvage what they can for her. Not a good situation all around. He assures us we can’t be of any help if we stayed to assist.
On a lighter note - we do have a couple of funny RV stories to share that I keep forgetting to tell you. A couple from Colorado Springs are here for a Vietnam Vets reunion. They have been married for seven years. She is a talker. She came by, plopped herself down one day and we knew her whole life story. Anyway, they are in an older motorhome that they recently bought. This is their first trip in it. She told Roger that she was sitting in the living room and noticed water running out of the bathroom onto the hall carpet. Her husband was in the shower. She pounded on the door and asked if he was ok (he does have health issues) but he didn’t hear her. She opened the door and water came flooding out of the bathroom. He was OK and enjoying his shower and was oblivious to the fact that his shower water was coming up over the shower pan onto the floor. He got the water turned off and she asked him when was the last time he dumped the tanks. His response, “What tanks?” Unbelievable. They, well she, had quite a mess to clean up and he now knows about the gray tank. DUHHHHHHH.
Another woman came by the day the Fiat was parked out front and in total seriousness asked Roger how he pulled the RV with it. Double DUHHHH.
Did two loads of laundry this morning - mostly so I could get all of those towels we used sopping up water that had leaked into the RV dry before they soured or mildewed - and we have everything put away and ready to leave. Now all we have to do is get through some predicted rain tonight (not thunderstorms they say and the slider will be pulled in) and then we can be on our way.
One can only wonder what kind of adventures await us on the trip home.
