The storm picked up in consistency and power as the night progressed. I woke at 4:30 unable to go back to sleep. The van was rolling like a ship at sea and the driving rain was pounding the driver side of the RV. The sideways angle and force of the rain pushed water in past the slide out seal and the carpet in the lower right side was getting wet. There was nothing to be done for it at the moment other than ride out the storm. The winds were blowing in excess of 30 miles per hour.

PJ woke up around seven and we had coffee and watched the weather out the side window by the dinette. Many of our neighbors were out breaking down their camps to drive home having varying degrees of difficulty getting things unhitched in the wind and rain. A muscular man with two teen age sons was disconnecting the water and power from his rig and his plastic rain jacket kept blowing up over his head and he’d have to stop what he was doing and untangle himself. As I was watching this a tent came flying by with a young bearded dude in a hoodie in hot pursuit. It was heading for the river and he was sprinting hard to catch it before it went sailing out to sea. A few minutes later, he came walking backwards into the wind carrying the flapping mass of nylon and poles back to his camp.

The dogs weren’t looking like they had much interest in going outside, but they had been cooped up for over 15 hours, so it had to be done. Exiting the door placed us in the lee of the wind and it didn’t seem so bad until we stepped around the side and then whoosh, it was moving the poor pups around. Cali immediately started pulling to go back but I persisted and we took a look at the river which had risen several feet with the tide. I walked them over by the Coast Guard station where we hid out on the back side of a building where the dogs finally got comfortable enough to do their business. We were getting soaked, so we raced back home and got all dried up and ran the heater for a little bit.

My back was really tight so I was trying to go easy on it. We hung around reading and doing stuff online. Pam made several phone calls and it was an easy going day rocking around inside the Lexington. We hooked the computer to the t.v. and revisited some of the stops from the beginning of our trip. Koda was freaking out from all of the whistling and rustling caused by the wind and the rain, so today was her turn to wear the thunder coat. Hard to say if it did her much good, but at least it was something to try.

A little later, we ventured out again taking the dogs for a tour of the campground. We paid for another night at the park kiosk

and walked down to the beach. The surge from the storm was pushing water over the edge and along the walkway along the river. Amazingly, a few hard core fisherman were working their lines in the shadow of the bridge trying to land the big catch. I walked out to the beach, but the sand was blowing so hard it could peel the paint off of an automobile. A few painful sandblasted seconds later, I retreated to the path and we made our way through the pouring rain back to Lexi’s warm interior.

 

Around 2:00, the rain stopped but the wind kept howling. People were starting to emerge from their tin boxes and move around the camp. We met the guy who was chasing the tent, Tim, and talked a while. He had a little gadget that measures the wind speed so we checked it out, 26 mph. We took in some fresh air, then retreated once again to the motor home. In the late afternoon, the sun finally made an appearance. Very welcome indeed.

As the sun was setting, we went back outside once more and admired the aftermath of the sunset. The wind is still blowing and is forecast to continue for the next 24 hours. We’ll see what the morning brings.