Minor bobble in the weather

[aadler]

So, Tuesday (two days ago) we had a thing with a tornado.

Less than dramatic.

We’d been seeing weather updates for the previous couple of days. Then, somewhat around 6PM, there was an actual tornado warning, which included the ‘seek shelter immediately’ message. You know the cliché about tornadoes selectively targeting trailer parks? People who live in RVs are just as sensitive to the fact that our homes are so much easier to turn over or even pick up and drop somewhere else. So Susan and I promptly went out to the car — I paused only long enough to grab a couple of folding camp chairs out of lower storage — and then went straight to the laundry room which doubles as a storm shelter at our current park. We weren’t the first ones there, but we were early enough to get inside and set up the chairs before the place got too crowded for us to have room for that.

I was surprised by how many people brought their dogs: at least a third of them, and at one point it felt like half. I hate dogs (in one of my fics, I had a character describe them as “a biological mechanism designed to foul things with one end and shred them with the other”, but Susan is crazy about them, and got to spend about 15 minutes cuddling a very receptive Pomeranian. Presently the power went out, and it was established that the tornado had passed directly over us … but without touching down, which it did on the other side of the adjacent interstate highway, and did notable damage in the community there, though without any fatalities I’ve been able to ascertain.

No problem for us, though. Once things were over, Susan and I returned to our rig and settled ourselves in. Yes, the power was out — meaning no air, no internet, no recharging of cell phone except through a single line out of the truck battery in the front — but we had RV battery power to give us light and we had running water, so we were okay for a bit.

Yesterday I took Susan out for breakfast at IHOP, since I could have cooked bacon and eggs on the gas range but I wanted to save our propane in case we needed the on-board generator for serious power. We didn’t. We spent the day relaxing and reading instead of anything to do with internet or television (though Susan accessed some internet stuff on her cell phone), took bedtime last night with only a small feeling of inconvenience.

If it had gone on much longer, I probably would have suggested a brief trip to some other park — quite a few residents moved on, and quite a few brought out or rented generators — or even just made an automobile trip to visit somebody and stayed in a motel there. Instead, just after 10AM today the power came back (we could tell when the A/C kicked on), and now all is good again.

(Well, I did find that the lights still weren’t back for the shower room. So I showered in the dark, dressed in the dark, and then wedged my moccasins under the door to hold it open for light so I could comb my hair and gather the soap/shampoo/razor/towel for return to my domicile. Get it? I’m a seasoned combat veteran, I deal with such seemingly unsurmountable obstacles. It’s just the way I am.)

Other things have been happening in the background, but not RV-related, so I’ll save that for a later post.