In the Eye of the Storm

This blog is directed mostly at my family, most especially my mom who worries about Paul taking me into these storm-ridden places. Well, we thought we beat this latest system moving east up through Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and so on. But that old fart put me right in the bulls-eye in Natchez, Mississippi. We put down overnight in this historic Mississippi River city and watched the approaching storm. The forecast called for severe conditions with large hail but no tornados in our immediate area. So we thought for sure we found the right place to dodge the bullet.

 Fell asleep and at about 3AM all hell broke loose. Of course, there's not a thing you can do except you hope and pray for the best and that large hail doesn't batter the truck or the RV. Or that one of the RV park's trees or a large limb doesn't come down on top of you, ruining everything. Three weeks ago we met an RVer in Louisiana who was camping in Arkansas when a tornado roared through killing four fellow campers. A falling tree crushed their trailer.

 Our storm turned out to be roaring wind, lightning, thunder, rain and fortunately very small hail. It lasted a couple of hours and moved northeast. Unfortunately, it claimed a number of lives in Arkansas and Missouri. For us, the worst really was poor little Daisy. She came unglued, jumped up on the bed and was literally laying on Paul's face, shaking like a leaf and that went on for about two hours.  Can't understand why Paul likes Daisy on his face. Is that weird, unnatural, or what?

Having grown up in California and now living in Arizona the uncertainty of these kinds of sudden weather outbursts are foreign and really quite frightening to us.  We're not totally new to this kind of weather on the road. In the last few years we've experienced several episodes just like this (including tornados in Ames, Iowa, Birmingham, Alabama and eastern Minnesota) but when you're watching the Weather Channel and you see the violence swirling all around you, it's damned unnerving.

 Some of the parks we've stayed in have emergency shelters for these weather events.  Last summer in Minnesota, emergency personnel evacuated our RV park and herded everyone into a nearby casino. Cha-ching!
But here in Natchez this park is about as slimy as they come. We barely have water and electricity. However, it does have good cable TV with MSNBC, CNBC, and the Weather Channel. All GE/NBC-owned and operated commie stations. But then it's only $80 a night to stay here, about the same price as the Ritz Carlton on the river. Plus it's actually in a mobile home (trailer) park. And you know how much tornados like mobile homes. 

Today we plan to tour historic Natchez. The sky is clear right now but the weather is calling for more violent outbursts this afternoon. At least during the day you're awake, alert and can seek shelter. The frightening part is at night.

The good news: Daisy made it off Paul's face and stopped shaking. And is back to her old ways chowing down and working her way toward her road trip goal weight of 68 pounds.