We pulled into our new campsite in Collinsville, MS about 10 minutes ago. As soon as I got Stevie tucked into our site, the neighbor suddenly appeared in front of my face, asking if I needed help setting up the trailer.
Awww! What a sweet young man!
"No. Thanks, though. I've done this a million times. It's not a problem."
"Well, I'm askin', 'cause there's a storm about to hit any second."
Disbelief. I looked up, out, and around.
Holy hell! How could I have missed those giant dark gray clouds bearing down on us like Voldermort? And, the rising water against the edge of the campsite? And, the pressure in the air?
I needed to get the trailer unhitched and stabilized, ASAP. I whipped the stabilizer blocks out of storage, placed them around each corner. Here came the wind. 60 MPH! I shit you not.
The door to the trailer was on the opposite side of where I was. I tucked behind a tall skinny pine tree, parallel to the wind. This is a campground of tall skinny pine trees, fringing swampy collections of water. I peered up at the trees swaying and bending and rebounding with the force of the wind.
Oh geez. I'm going to die. This is it. I'm going to finally be blown off the face of the Earth. A branch from this tree I'm using for protection is going to drop a branch and smash my brains. Mother Nature is the ultimate serial killer.
A branch above me fell from the tree and splintered in front of me.
I screamed. Terrified.
I ran for the trailer door. Made it in.
Henry was already in the trailer, terrified and panting from the heat. It had to have been 95 degrees inside. I didn't want to open the windows, because the wind would have for sure ripped them off. No power, no air conditioning.
I grabbed two of our numerous fans, one for Henry, one for me. Tried to calm down and blow some of the heat away from our bodies.
If you've looked through the pictures/videos, you might have seen the video from another storm we endured in Lake Charles, LA, where Henry shook with fear of the thunderstorm that pelted us. Here, poor Henry shook in fear again.
Where have you brought me???
The trailer rocked. So frightening. I imagined what it might feel like to take to the air in an RV. Small branches and pine cones thumped on the roof. Please don't let a tree or large branch fall on us! Fortunately, we were parked parallel to the wind and were still hitched to Dolly. This provided enough stability to keep us on the ground with the rubber side down.
Here came the rain. Sideways rain. Lots of it.
Booming thunder right over our heads.
Henry was vibrating.
(Ginger: I wish I had that calming jacket.)
Another boom, but this was a different sounding boom from the thunder. I looked out the window. Trees in the campground, shallowly anchored to the ground, started to fall.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit!
In a panic, I opened the trailer door. I don't know why. It was a completely irrational reaction. I don't know if I thought I could go outside and command the trees to stop falling.
What's this? The temperature had fallen about 25 degrees. Oh! The relief, splendid relief. To feel such frigid temperatures in the South in June. Delectable.
Hurricane? What hurricane? (It wasn't a hurricane.)
As soon as the wind died down to normal MPHs, I stepped outside and spun around with my arms stretched out. Completely drenched with rain, not sweat. Sweet, sweet rain and 70 degrees.
PS: Dolly nor Stevie were not injured in this storm. Others in the campground did not fair as well, but I think they're smokers, so...
You dodged a bullet!!!!
WOW! We just had a torrential downpour in Metairie. So happy y’all made it unscathed