6/6/2011 It Was a Dark & Stormy Night….

A few days ago I wrote about what a difference a day can make as far as weather is concerned. We learned today just what a difference an hour can make.

After work we were sitting with our co-camphosts, Gary & Shari, at their site talking about the day and enjoying a perfect early evening.

The campground lawns had been cut earlier in the day and the aroma of fresh cut grass filled the air. There was the gentlest of breezes blowing and early evening air was warm but not too warm. Perfection.

And then…..

The wind picked up, we noticed the sun had gone in and sitting in the shade of the RV it hadn’t gotten noticeably cooler. This all happened within minutes.

I don’t recall who got up first but I remember somebody saying, “Oh my God, look what’s coming.” With that we all jumped up to see.

The dark sky coming towards us was downright scary looking and it was coming F A S T!

In a matter of minutes we went from sunny blue skies to this.

With each passing minute it got worse. Clouds black as night.

Things were blowing all over the place. Door mats that campers had in front of their steps, the lid to our barbecue grill, Bob’s hat, the trees were bending nearly in half and I had a hard time standing in one place to take these pictures. I snapped three off within just minutes and went inside. As I entered I was facing our 22 foot slide out and I saw it lifting and moving inward. I screamed for Bob but he couldn’t hear me as he was busy chasing down things caught in the wind. I put both palms against the fridge frame and just pushed trying to keep the slide from coming in. The 5th wheel was just rocking. I can tell you right now,,,,I was scared!

Bob finally came in and the rain started. I felt so sorry for our robin and her babies but she stayed right with them. I was so afraid the nest would be blown off the ladder.

The difference between night and day.

We learned that the next time, we are truly hoping there won’t be a repeat of the this (!), that one of us needs to run to the rig and pull the slides in. Doing that will give us a much better center of gravity and the rig won’t move so much in the intense wind.

An hour later, the black skies moved on, the blue returned and the sun came out until sunset.