Springtime in Texas

I emailed our Pastor, Robert, yesterday and told him there was a tornado heading to his old home town, League City, TX.  He emailed back and said that growing up, there were only two seasons, thunderstorm season (winter and spring) and hurricane season (summer and fall). We did experience a little of the first season 2 days ago when the tornados that hit Dallas headed east in a line of storms that was hundreds of miles long with no break and 50 or so miles wide.  There was no escaping that ‘puppy’ in Tyler, TX, where we were parked.
We are not newbies to storms.  We remember thinking we were very safe inside the Exposition Building in Kearney, NE. We were even told by the staff at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds that tornados never hit Kearney.  Left: Safe inside.  Right: After tornado.

We were very fortunate to have left 3 days before the tornado hit the Buffalo County Exposition Center.
Later that month we were at Clinton Lake in Kansas just outside of Kansas City when the storm warnings went off on our TV.  It looked pretty nice outside, nothing to worry about, right? Wrong!  When a storm warning is issued it means take cover.  We didn’t. “Tornado on the ground!”

Tornado VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We could have gone to the brick shelter across the park, but by the time we realized it was dangerous the lightning and torrential rain prohibited us from doing anything but watch and pray.  We were lucky (or blessed), but we learned our lesson, don’t mess with tornados.
We were parked in Bangor, Maine, when Hurricane Irene decided to move a little more inland.
Left: Safe and sunny.  Right: 50 MPH winds and torrential rain.  After 10 hours, safe!

So as we sat in Tyler 2 evenings ago watching those quickly moving clouds, listening to our weather radio, watching the weather channel on the TV, and checking the radar on our computers and Droids, we were very prepared.  We had Pansy’s carrier at the ready at the door, we had all our important papers scanned onto a flash drive on my key ring, and we knew exactly where the brick house with the door always unlocked and the stairs to the basement just inside.  This time we were ready.  And the RV? We have learned it is just ‘stuff’.
We have been on the road, part time then full time, since 2004, about 1800 days. Of that we have had maybe 3 close calls.  We have had way more than that from some near misses by some insane-crazy drivers.  AND we have not won the Lottery, yet.  So we will continue to explore this beautiful and exciting United States and thank our Lord daily for safety and the wonderful friends we have met, and the family that supports our crazy lifestyle.
We are off today to cache and see the sites – more to come.