Rainy Day

We woke up to rain, but that was expected, so we snuggled in and went back to sleep. I finally got up to make tea at 8:30. By 9:30, we had had our breakfast and were reading when Ranger Janice came tearing up.

“Big storm coming,” she said. “Best place to seek shelter is the block toilets over at Paper Birch Circle,” and she was off to warn the next camper.

Gary has a weather radio so we listened in. The report was for 60 mph winds and large hail. He decided we should take off in his van. I packed a bag of necessities: computer, paper, pens, books and the last sudoku puzzle from the book. Forget water, food, and clothing. I don't mind seeking shelter but I don't want to be bored when I am there, wherever there is. However, the concept of taking shelter doesn't register with Gary.

We headed away from our campsite to check out what was happening with the rest of the campers. Mostly, they were leaving, pulling their big rigs behind them. By the time we wound through all the circles, we found we were down to three occupied campsites, as compared to 27 the evening before. All the while, Gary was tracking the storm on the weather radio and knew the storm was going north, missing us entirely other than the rain.

Gary, always a scavenger, went from campsite to campsite to see if anyone had left behind any fire wood. With a big reunion at Jack Pine Circle the day before, he found plenty. Out of curiosity, I checked the big block toilet. We saw some of these being hauled in by the Forest Service last year. Now we realize that besides serving as toilets, they are shelters in a storm.

Three hours later another storm went through, another ranger came to warn us to take shelter and again we did no such thing. We tend to be fatalistic, I guess.

So this is our Memorial Day, celebrated with rain and hail. In an hour or two we'll take a look to see what kind of damage there was at Clam Lake and Mellon, the two closest villages. Meanwhile, I am back in the camper with computer, paper, pens and books.

I finished the last sudoku puzzle.