First off, last Friday we thought our nightmare on I-10 had moved to a nightmare on I-2o. We left Paul's sister's house in Milledgeville, Georgia as we crossed the state line into Alabama. We ran into a large band of strong storms with heavy rain, marble-sized hail and swirling clouds. Within minutes, storms became tornadoes, touching down all around us.
We pulled into an Alabama Welcome Center (rest stop) just as the staff was turning off the lights and evacuating, telling us to leave but not telling anyone why. Paul was outside walking Daisy, who was starting to fly like a kite. A hundred feet away where some kids had been playing a minute earlier a large Georgia pine came down. Tons of debris crashed to the ground and those kids missed being crushed to death by a matter of seconds. Literally. The rest stop maintenance crew, instead of doing anything to assist, was heading for shelter. Someone needs to reassess emergency procedures at these rest stops, where, in a situation like this should be places of refuge. It puts us in mind of the Italian cruise ship some years ago that was going down and the captain was the first one off the boat.
So we reeled Daisy in and followed a procession of cars and big rigs out of the rest stop onto I-20 as the winds continued to pick up and Paul could see the trailer in the rearview mirror being whipped around like a child's toy. Our decision was to pull off the interstate into a small town where we could find some shelter. But this was a small town of dumpy old trailer parks and you know how tornadoes aim for these things.
Suddenly all around us the warning sirens are going off, sending Daisy into a fit of howling and pre-recorded messages are saying that a tornado is imminent and you (we) should seek shelter immediately. We couldn't find anyplace to seek shelter so we continued our slow speed crawl listening to an emergency radio broadcast breaking into Rush Limbaugh's never-ending diabribe against Democrats. Perhaps God does know best.
Fortunately, the worst passed high overhead to the north and south of us. We managed somehow to dodge the damn thing. Unfortunately, not that far north tornadoes did touch down in Tennessee, destroying homes and killing a few people.
If you're not used to these sorts of things, and even if you are, this is a frightening situation. The only thing the local weather stations tell you is to seek shelter immediately. But if you're a traveler where do you go? We pulled into a county maintenance yard that had a few sturdy-looking buildings but by then the worst had passed. Whew!
Today, Monday morning, we are resting comfortably in the trailer in a casino RV park in Vicksburg, right on the Mississippi River. The drive in yesterday afternoon got a little hairy with yet more violent storms. No tornadoes but high winds and heavy rain. But it's turning out to be a much better day with some sun. High in the mid-70s. Good weather for visiting local antebellum homes and the Vicksburg Civil War Battlefield National Historic Park. Daisy's outside eating local insects. For this dog, some things never change. And it is, after all, all about the dog.
We pulled into an Alabama Welcome Center (rest stop) just as the staff was turning off the lights and evacuating, telling us to leave but not telling anyone why. Paul was outside walking Daisy, who was starting to fly like a kite. A hundred feet away where some kids had been playing a minute earlier a large Georgia pine came down. Tons of debris crashed to the ground and those kids missed being crushed to death by a matter of seconds. Literally. The rest stop maintenance crew, instead of doing anything to assist, was heading for shelter. Someone needs to reassess emergency procedures at these rest stops, where, in a situation like this should be places of refuge. It puts us in mind of the Italian cruise ship some years ago that was going down and the captain was the first one off the boat.
So we reeled Daisy in and followed a procession of cars and big rigs out of the rest stop onto I-20 as the winds continued to pick up and Paul could see the trailer in the rearview mirror being whipped around like a child's toy. Our decision was to pull off the interstate into a small town where we could find some shelter. But this was a small town of dumpy old trailer parks and you know how tornadoes aim for these things.
Suddenly all around us the warning sirens are going off, sending Daisy into a fit of howling and pre-recorded messages are saying that a tornado is imminent and you (we) should seek shelter immediately. We couldn't find anyplace to seek shelter so we continued our slow speed crawl listening to an emergency radio broadcast breaking into Rush Limbaugh's never-ending diabribe against Democrats. Perhaps God does know best.
Fortunately, the worst passed high overhead to the north and south of us. We managed somehow to dodge the damn thing. Unfortunately, not that far north tornadoes did touch down in Tennessee, destroying homes and killing a few people.
If you're not used to these sorts of things, and even if you are, this is a frightening situation. The only thing the local weather stations tell you is to seek shelter immediately. But if you're a traveler where do you go? We pulled into a county maintenance yard that had a few sturdy-looking buildings but by then the worst had passed. Whew!
Today, Monday morning, we are resting comfortably in the trailer in a casino RV park in Vicksburg, right on the Mississippi River. The drive in yesterday afternoon got a little hairy with yet more violent storms. No tornadoes but high winds and heavy rain. But it's turning out to be a much better day with some sun. High in the mid-70s. Good weather for visiting local antebellum homes and the Vicksburg Civil War Battlefield National Historic Park. Daisy's outside eating local insects. For this dog, some things never change. And it is, after all, all about the dog.
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Keep it clean, please. And nice. And complimentary.