Alarmed

Tornado sirens woke us up at 6 AM today. Gentle rain was falling on the roof as we scrabbled for clothing to toss on, flinging the bed up to grab Patches' cardboard carrier so we could carry her to the office with us. By the time I had grabbed my purse and the cell phone the rain had changed to a deluge and the three of us were soaked to the skin. The office was open and waiting for us because the weather service had warned of potential bad weather the night before. The nice thing about this campground is that it is brand new and the office and bath house were both constructed of 12 inch thick concrete that can withstand winds of 250 mph, which is comforting to know when you're confronted with the possibility of a tornado.

We sat with cups of coffee watching the local weather to see how long the threat lasted. Fortunately, the brunt of the storm passed us by and we were able to go back to our fifth wheel within a half hour. By 8:30 AM we were on the road, by 10 AM the sun peeked through the clouds and by the time we were passing by Biloxi, MS there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Ah, the vagaries of the weather.

The folks parked next to us won't have it as good--they were headed east through Florida which meant they'd either be following or driving right into the rains and more possibilities of tornadic activity. That's another reason to winter in Arizona--you won't hear of a lot of tornadoes out there. No mudslides, no earthquakes, few wildfires. Just sun and desert. Where people forget how to drive when it rains (seriously!) We'll get there....