Let the Storm Begin ... I Guess

Granpa is always seeking out his cooling wind, but this time, ignoring the fact that THERE'S A STORM COMING !!!

These tents are amazing.  Seriously.  They are meant to bend and flex with the wind without actually breaking or tearing stitches.  (Unfortunately, I don't bend and flex as well as I used to.)  Regardless of how gusty and strong the winds got we had a job to do. The lightening, though, was truly frightful!  We had that big ol' metal van sitting slap dab up against the tent to block the wind (not), just teasing and tempting the lightening to strike her.  CRASHING thunder, unbelievable wind!


Once the storm started there was no turning back.  We just hunkered down and rode her out - sort of.  It is always worse to me on the rim at Palo Duro because I could just imagine blowing over the side of the canyon, but next to that, this was as bad as it's ever been.

Along about midnight I see Granpa on his hands and knees crawling out to re-strap some tie-downs.  Three a.m., ditto.  Four a.m. I wake up realizing the tent is laying across my face and there is LOTS of flapping of fabric going on.  Using my always-handy flashlight I look to see how much water is in the tent.  Nada.  That's interesting.  That's good; but that's interesting because with all the rain and wind I can't believe we're not floating!

Five a.m. I surrender, roll out of the cot, grab my purse and some electronics and crawl out from under the mostly collapsed tent on my hands and knees.  I manage to get me and everything I grabbed into the van without dropping anything.  Only minutes later I see Granpa crawling out on his hands and knees, too.

We survived rain and wind and lightening and marriage.  Yes, sirree.  The tent sustained no wounds and neither did our marriage.  However, there is this new battle cry I have when looking for a campsite:  NO WIND!  Breezes, yes; wind, NO!