"Neither tornados nor heat from fires nor gloom of hurricanes stays these RVers from their travels"

Citrus Heights, CA – at Sister’s House

Above is the most recent, as of 2 am ET time Saturday, of the path and strength of Hurricane Irma.  A very VAST change from just 36 hours ago when the projections showed it on the eastern side of the state.  “IF” this projection holds true, well, the “eye of the storm” (or darn close to the eye) will pass right over our condo in Holiday.

Above left is a map from google, with the orange balloon showing where Holiday is…in the picture right, which is a blown up of our area of the first picture, you can see the path line…and it sure looks like it will be right over Holiday.  Of course, these projection paths change from day to day…now changing about every 4 hours as its approach is so near.  Who knows…perhaps by Saturday night it will head so far west that it won’t even hit Florida at all…or it “might” just head up to the panhandle where many Floridians have evacuated to.  Marcia said that happened before when a Hurricane was suppose to hit Tampa area, so people went over to Orlando…and guess where it hit?  Yep, Orlando area.  Anyway, not only has the path changed…the strength as it passes through has increased from a Cat 1 or 2 to now a Cat 4. 

Back on April 30th and May 1st I blogged about a Tornado that we just barely dodged in Blytheville Arkansas on Saturday night (Sunday early morning) when we parked at a Walmart Parking Lot, and just across the Interstate at a Shell Station, a F1 tornado did damage to a Shell Gas Station below.

You can read about that night by visiting those two blog posts by clicking these two links:   April 30th Post ….. May 1st Post.   That was a very scary 20 minutes…no TV working, and if it wasn’t for our cell phones going off with an emergency warning, we might have just slept right through it.  Well, with Hurricanes you don’t sleep through them…they last for a long time…and if you are in the path, you are scared or stupid.  Thank goodness “WE” are not there, sitting comfortably in Citrus Heights at my sister’s house (comfortable now that the 109 temps have vanished for the rest of the summer…we hope…)  Of course…that was not the end of it because we faced another Tornado being close to us while in Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico on May 8th!  We also saw some hail as we traveled a few times this year…one hit pretty hard and I was shocked that none of our windows busted in the HHR.  Then there was the fire in Southwest Oregon, which led to our evacuation back to Sacramento.  That fire, by-the-way, is now at 178,000 acres, and only 5% contained…but so far they have kept it away from Brookings and from Alfred Loeb State Park which was shut down…and remains shut down…just five days before we were to return to the park for a two week stay.  We just decided it was best to get out of Oregon so that we did not take up any camping spots that locals who were evacuated from their homes might need.

So what has been going on for the past two weeks????  Family time, Doggie Grooming time, Computer fixing time at mom and dad’s place, and trying to keep cool.  Temps in Sacrament quickly raised right after our arrival, and yes, got up to around 110 degrees.  When it is that hot…the inside of the motorhome is in the upper 80’s.  Thank goodness the hot spell broke on Tuesday, but we will be back in the low 90’s Saturday, Sunday and Monday before they dip back down again.  But that sweat on my brow won’t be from the heat…but from worrying about our friends, family and our Condo as they endure Irma.  Our prayers and thoughts are with all of you...

Just How Close it Was – Blytheville Tornado & Wind Damage

This is a Shell Gas Station, next to a Hampton Inn, Blytheville Arkansas after a “tornado embedded in straight line winds” blew through shortly after 2 am Sunday morning.  And…HOW CLOSE WERE WE?????

As Maxwell Smart use to say, “Missed us by this much…”  (for the younger crowd, look up “Get Smart”)

This Satellite Shot from Google Maps shows it even better.  The ‘Blue’ rectangle represents the motorhome and tow car.  Just to the left of it you can see some trees, and I pulled forward away from the trees just a minute before it hit.  We were facing to the right.  The Shell Station, across I-55, faced the Interstate, and the picture of the station was taken from the frontage road that the arrowhead just covers up.  The two carts that we saw zooming across the parking lot (see previous post where that is talked about) were closer to the Walmart building that to us, but close to half the distance between us and the Walmart building.  The were zooming left to right, as was the wind.  Since it was 2 am, there were only a handful of cars in the parking lot…one of which was a security guard.  Yep, it was close…too close…but we made it through without a scratch (or dent).

Today we took it easy in the morning, went to visit Marcia’s cousin Sophie around 2, and we all went to dinner at a small restaurant nearby called “Bob & Wanda's Wagon Wheel Cafe” where every Monday they have 10 oz Prime Rib for $15.  He cooks up one rib, when it is gone, it is gone.  By the time we left, it was all gone.  And it was REAL GOOD!   4 1/2 stars on Yelp and also on Google…we passed by it many times, never even thought about eating there.  It will be on our radar from now on…and it is open 24 hours too!  Amazing little place, nice people, great food.

Tomorrow we head to Little Rock to have work done on the RV and on me.  Well, the RV will go in at DJ's Auto Repair, will have new front breaks, and the grease boot over the ball joints, which last year they said had signs of cracking (after 10 years, this is common).  We have to be there between 7:30-8:00 am on Wednesday, so we have decided to park at another Cracker Barrel nearby (less than 5 miles away.)  As for me, it is back to UAMS for a yearly check up.  Yes, I had one just 8 months ago…but we won’t be in the area again for over a year from now, so it best to get it done now.  Then we head out to Phoenix where they are having a ‘Celebration of Life’ service for Marcia’s longtime friend Joyce.  That takes place May 21st, so we have plenty of time to get there, and we will take advantage of the time to visit a few places we typically zoom past.

2 am Tornado Warning!!!

Left at 7 am from Cedar Lake, Indiana, found a rest area around 8:15 to feed the dogs and us, and stopped in Blytheville Arkansas around 7, even with a stop for an hour long nap.  Now the Blytheville route is longer than cutting over to St Louis and going down I-44 for our Fort Smith destination...but the weather was much much better this way. 

About 9 pm a front moved through Blytheville, where we had hunkered down at a Arkansas Welcome Center.  Had a news station out of Memphis and they assured us that it was a fast moving, non-tornadic storm.  By 10 a truck parked right next to us, NEVER turned off its engine.  By 11 I moved us over to Wal-Mart about a mile away.  Marcia went to bed, I watched the weather.  At midnight I thought the storms were dying down...

At 2 am Marcia's cell phone goes off...followed by mine.  Tornado detected headed for, yep you guessed it, BLYHTEVILLE!  I position the motorhome to better handle the wind and get far away from trees. The night security guard drove by and told me it was best not to drive away...yep, you can't outrun these storms when they are only minutes away.

The motorhome shakes and rocks, we see two or three Wal-Mart carts flying down the parking lot looking for parked cars to cause havoc on.  We hold hands, hold Skruffy (Bubba sleeps through these things).  Suddenly I see a bright colorful light glowing about a quarter of a mile away, and all goes dark around the Wal-Mart.  A minute later the lights come back on...and then I again see that bright glow, and all goes dark.

I have the Memphis news streaming on my Kindle Fire.  40 minutes later the danger is over, but winds and lightning and thunder and heavy rain abound.  We go back to bed...this time with our clothes on (not in our night clothes).

7 am we hit the road again.  Stop 3 miles down the highway for coffee at a new Love's Travel Stop.  Their electricity only flickered during the night, enough to knock out the computer that controls the pumps, but they have coffee, so we are good.

Now in West Memphis watching church as I blog.  Fort Smith is on the other side of the state...a route I know well.  The rain will last through Little Rock, but we are safe, whole, and still going.  One only wonders how those who stayed in the rest area with their engines running all night made out...only good thoughts, I promise.