Pucker Factor

We enjoy having new experiences in our travels in the Journey.  We look forward to the next great thing around the corner.

Last night, not so much.  In fact, it is one experience we hope to never have again.

We were in the Passport America campground near Cape Girardeau, MO.  The campground was a real dive, I already told you about the mud in yesterday’s post.  It was way, way out in the sticks and it was a barely improved place to stay, lots of rutted roads, overhanging trees and bushes jutting out in the roads that we eased slowly by trying not to scratch the sides of the Journey.

It was no wonder we were the only ones there.  It was almost like we were the only survivors on Earth after some cataclysmic event.

When we checked in to the ramshackle office/bar down the road, the lady was very nice and gave us her cell phone number in case we needed anything.

After setting up and dealing with the sewer hose split, we ate supper and relaxed.  Because of the trees, there was no satellite signal possible from our rooftop dome and with the now falling rain, there was no way I was going to venture out and set up the potable dish.

Internet was spotty, so I read on my Kindle while Marti played some games on her iPad.  The rain started coming down so heavily, we could barely hear each other talk as the drops drummed on the roof.

Then…

Marti’s iPhone beep a warning.  A tornado was in the vicinity and we were advised to take shelter immediately.

Knowing that trailers (and motorhomes by association) are tornado magnets, we wondered where there was any kind of a shelter.  Marti called the campground lady and was told there was no shelter, but not to worry, they never had been hit with a tornado before.

 Comforting words.

I told Marti that we’d have to sit tight, we had nowhere to go and wait it out.  I tried to alleviate her fears that as long as there was no hail falling while the thunder and lightning crashed right on top of us, we’d be okay.

I tuned in the weather radio and got no encouraging news.  Tornado activity was happening right where we were.  Finally getting on the Internet, the weather radar showed we were right in the box for tornadoes. 

Then the hail started. Enter the pucker factor.

Now, on to Plan B.  Decisions.  Should we stay in the Journey, or should we go out in the storm and lay down in a nearby ditch.

I decided the ditch idea was out because that’s where all the sewage washed down to from our sewer hose.  A tornado may be coming, but I still had my dignity and didn’t want to end up in Oz smelling like a… well, use your imagination.

Of course, we were in a pull thru and I hadn’t disconnected the car so driving somewhere was out, we could just as easily drive into a tornado in the dark.

So we waited it out.  We watched amazing lightning crash all around us.  It was a long couple of hours until the danger passed.  As you can see, we survived, intact.  We never saw or heard any tornado.

As I was sitting there staring out the window at the storm, I kept thinking, “Just my luck.  I finally get the perfect mattress in the Journey and now it’s going to be blown to who knows where?”   

We finally went to bed with rain still falling but not very hard.  This morning we got up real early and pulled out of the campground, having to drive through some streams washing across the campground roads.  Marti said to me “I’ll never complain about stopping at a Walmart again!”

The sun is shining this morning and we’ve stopped at a truck stop for some breakfast.  It’s very, very windy and hopefully the wind will die down.  We’ve only got another couple of hours of driving to get to our destination.  Never a dull moment.  ;c)

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