WILD WEATHER

I really have no need to chase storms.  They find me.  Particularly, when I'm camping.  One of our state park supervisors used to joke he'd pay me to stay away on certain weekends so the weather would stay nice and the parks would generate more revenue.  While I don't think I'm necessarily bad luck, summer thunderstorms are a way of life for campers.  And this past weekend reminded me to stay vigilant.

My family and I were at Marion Reservoir and just getting ready to enjoy a fire after a late dinner Friday night.  But looking west we could see dark clouds and I knew we were in for a bumpy ride.  Checking the radar my suspicions were confirmed.  High winds and damaging hail were forecasted and our campground was right in the path of the storm.  I didn't take any chances and loaded up my wife and kids and headed to a make-shift storm shelter below the dam to ride it out.  One of my boys said, "Dad, should you put the grill away?"  I replied, "Buddy, if that big ol' heavy thing blows off that picnic table we've got problems!"

The shelter was packed and more than 150 people and pets sought refuge.  We were in there for 2 hours and the storm really didn't seem too bad under tons of earth and concrete.  When we finally headed back to our camper near midnight I was worried when we crossed the dam.  Big chunks of gravel from the side of the road had blown across the blacktop making it a gravel road of sorts.  We turned the corner into the campground and saw huge limbs laying all over.  As we approached our campsite my wife said, "Look at that uprooted tree!"  This caused my heart to skip a beat.  The tree looked like it fell directly on my boat parked in front of my camper.  Limbs were draped all over the cover and sides.  I feared the worst.

But upon closer inspection with a flashlight I found I'd dodged a bullet.  I had to cut several limbs off the tree to get my boat out but the trunk and major limbs had landed just a couple feet away.  The limbs covering the boat hadn't caused any damage other than a scuff on my motor and cover.  I felt extremely fortunate. 

But my favorite Coleman Roadtrip Grill was on the ground and parts were strewn everywhere.  The odd thing was I had a metal dog bowl with about an inch of water in it sitting right next to the grill.  It never moved. The kids searched with flashlights and recovered most of the grill pieces.  The drip pan was the last item needed to possibly salvage the grill when we heard a "clunk, clunk" from the road as a truck passed and ran over it.  Ashley said laughing, "I think I found it, Dad."  

The grill may not be salvageable.  But if I'm only out a couple hundred bucks I feel pretty fortunate.  It could have been much worse and run well into the thousands of dollars with just 2 feet difference.  I couldn't help but think of the people suffering from tornado damage in Reading and Joplin.  My heart felt for them as this was nothing compared to their loss.  But it still serves as a reminder to keep an eye on ol' Mother Nature as she can get a bit nasty on occasion.