THE TURN-AROUND

DAY 38 (May 22^nd )

Heading out for Oregon via the same route we took to get here. By leaving on Sunday, the traffic is a lot lighter in Sevierville. The route from I-40 thru Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg is horrible. Not only because of the tourist traffic, but because of the road construction to improve and widen the main route. Plus there is road and bridge construction on other roads leading into and out of this area. I found that if I left at 4 pm to pick Elwyn up from class, traffic was fair and only took me 20 min. But let me leave 3 min. later and it would take me 40 min, most of which was spent just getting out of Sevierville. We are spoiled, living in Brookings/Harbor.

Parker's Crossing RV Park listed; Cable (WooHoo) and WiFi (another WooHoo) with ample pull-thru length. The rating wasn't great, but said they were new owners and improving. Actually, it was the only place offering Cable. So we headed there. We were pleased. Yes, it does have a short, not so great, gravel road to the big-rig sites, but once there we had a 70' concrete pad to park on. Our site was on a knoll, pretty view of pond, gazebo, dock and large grassy area to enjoy. They are improving the other sites with concrete pads and some have decks.

Even though parks offer WiFi, I've found them to be less than desirable most of the time. Hence, I'm considering Verizon wireless for my computer. Most I've talked with, have been pleased with wireless internet service.

Storm came through with lots of lighting, thunder, wind and rain. But no tornado. Joplin, MO was hit bad with a tornado. Elwyn may have a distant cousin living there, but we don't know for sure. As we traveled west, we heard more and more about this devastating tornado. We visited Joplin and passed through the town on several day trips, from our RV site in Carthage, MO, in the Spring of 2007.


DAY 39

Long day of driving as the 'horse heads for the barn'. Decided to stay in VanBuran, AR again. After all, Big Jake's Steak House is just a short distance from the RV park. Had steak again and we weren't disappointed. Just as good as before! Got back to the motor home as the wind was picking up. Thunder and Lighting storms were predicted with possible tornado's. Did have mega rain and hail! We couldn't see out the front window of the motor home from all the rain. Looked like a waterfall. The lighting seemed to strike the same place 5 times or more. I saw the bolts hit again, and again, just a few miles from us. Worst storm we have been through yet.

Peanut Shells litter the floor at Jake's Steak House.

DAY 40

OKC again! We need to have some motor home work done, so we'll be staying at McClain's RV lot. Have full hookups and 50 amps, but no neighbors. Only empty motor homes, fifth wheels or trailers. They were too busy to take us in, so put us on their lot around 3 pm. No cable, but we have TV and all other amenities.

We were watching local TV stations and soon took notice of the severe weather reports. About 4 pm we noticed that gradually, the employee parking lot was emptying. Then someone came and locked the gates. No one said anything to us. The weather reports were beginning to report Tornado Warnings. We were checking TV reports from storm chasers and following on our NOAA radio as well. Our exit was #143 on I-40. So when they predicted a Tornado had touched the ground and were advising those between exit #123 and #137 (to our west) to take shelter, we decided to leave, as you can not predict 100% what direction a Tornado will continue to take. Also there were other Tornado's on the ground in other areas of OKC, and two were to our north. Staying put in the motor home while being buffeted with high winds and possible baseball size hail wasn't something we wanted to experience.

Getting Cleo was another story. She was hiding so far back under the couch, Elwyn had to slide under as far as he could and talk to her calmly, finally getting hold of her and pulling her out. By then the winds were increasing. Got her into her carrier, we grabbed what we thought was important, some food/water for Cleo and walked to the car. We had parked in the employee's lot, which wasn't gated, thankfully.

The plan was to drive to the nearest Fire Station, which we did. However, they recommended we drive 4+ miles to a hospital as the Fire Station really wasn't a shelter. As we were driving to the hospital, we remembered the report of a tornado north of us and kept thinking, we are driving right toward it! Once we got on the freeway (I-35), we were really concerned as it was jammed up. People were trying to get out of OKC and people were trying to get into OKC from the north. Anyway, we were only on the freeway for short distance and exited toward the hospital.

The Fireman had told us to park in the hospital's multistory concrete parking garage, which we did. The parking staff was keeping it open (and free) for those seeking shelter. Found a spot away from an exposed side and backed in. Not sure we could take Cleo in with us, so decided to leave her in the car with her food/water and opened the door to her carrier. We followed several others and walked toward the hospital entrance from the garage.

Hospital staff were positioned along the corridors, directing everyone seeking shelter to the basement. The process was well organized, guess they have done this before, and everyone was calm. Took the stairs down (there was an elevator for those that needed it) to a long hallway with people along the sides, sitting, standing, some with phones, others with computers, kids with blankets and toys, everyone calm and pleasant. Noticed that it was getting a bit warm, however. We kept following those ahead of us, leading the way, not unlike Lemings. Finally found a vacant spot against the wall and stopped. I noticed it was right under an air conditioning vent. That was Great! But, I would have to sit on the floor. Getting down okay. Getting up, not okay.

Security then asked us to continue on to the conference room, stating that there was more room, it was air conditioned and had chairs. We did and willingly sat down. Noticed others were bringing pets, some hand held, other in carriers. Did see a cat in a carrier. But we were glad we left Cleo in the car (back windows down just a little) as she wouldn't have like it much down there. (Funny, she never fussed at all when we were driving to the shelter or when we parked and left her. In fact, she was abnormally quiet. Animals know!) We got to know the people near us, and as our son Steve said, “made new friends”, if only for a short while.

After about 20 min, Security said we could leave. Several people watching or listening to weather on phones, etc. said, “NO” and questioned him. However, he stated that it was clear for OKC. But, there were still Tornadoes heading for towns south of OKC, and some in the shelter lived or had family there. Elwyn decided we should leave and so we began our trek up from the basement.

At the car, we were amazed to see the amount of water pouring into the parking garage due to the rain and wind. It was like a waterfall at the north side of the garage. We waited for it to slack off. Finally felt it was okay and drove off. Once outside, the rain was coming down in buckets. Not too far, we began to get hail, about quarter size, hitting us and rain was coming down so hard we couldn't see. The streets were full of water due to the torrent and pulled over into a 'fast food' parking area to wait it out. Must have sat there for 5 min. at least. Rain finally subsided enough so we could see and decided to take the surface streets back.

When we arrived at the motor home, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was peeking though. We turned on the TV and began to learn of the 6 Tornadoes and the damage they caused all around OKC. Joplin was now reporting 118 deaths. Today wasn't even as bad as Sunday's Tornado, but for each and every family that lost loved ones or a home it was the worst of the worst for them.

We are very thankful we were not affected, but pray for those that were.

Note:  I have no storm photos.  I'm not so inclined to venture out into that sort of weather.  We saw many photographic reports of OKC Tornadoes and the Joplin Tornado.  They will be forever etched in my mind. 

Cleo's Comments:

What the heck! Here I was, safe and sound, under the couch. Yes, it was windy and the motor home was moving about. Suddenly, here he was, under the couch, with me just out of reach. Something seemed different. He was talking to me softly, trying to get me to venture toward him. I never do that! But, there was something that made me think that I really needed to comply. Well, I didn't move toward him, but did allow myself to be 'captured' and put into my carrier. We left the motor home rather urgently. I could sence it. Once in the car, I could tell that my people were concerned about something. We stopped for a bit, then continued on.

I was quiet. Very quiet. Once inside a building in the car. Can you believe that, he drove the car into a building? (Well, not into the building, but inside the building.) Then I noticed other cars in there. He stopped the car, she put a container, with water, on the floor, opened my carrier and left. Humm. Interesting!

What they don't know, is that it got very windy. I could feel the wind through the little openings of the windows that they left for air. The lighting was close and the thunder was really, really loud in this building. I was scared and stayed put in my carrier.

Anyway, was I ever glad when they returned to the car. The drive back to the motor home was noisy, what with hail and rain and one of my owners saying. “Pull over! Pull over! We have to stop! There could be another Tornado!” She tends to get a bit over-excited. He, on the other hand, is always calm, in control and not overly concerned.

Me, I was just quiet, very quiet!