So....we last left our heroine sleeping in her tent, Friday night. All was well. Until about 3:00. The wind starting picking up....fast. The gusts started getting stronger and tougher. I can hear mom and dad's awning on their tent start to rustle. I was on my way to putting my shoes on, and waking them up, when I heard dad come out to take care of it.
Crisis averted.
Not so fast.
About an hour later, I hear another rustling. (smack, slap, smack, smack, slap, bam!)
Followed by silence. The wind is still howling, but the slapping noises are done.
What the.....?
I unzip my tent, and peak my head out.
No fear....it was just the tarp we'd extended out from the flea market tent. It came from of the poles, and was hanging straight down. No big deal....it's just a fourth wall for the shelter tent. We'll get it in the morning.
Probably better that way anyway, then it won't rip, or escape altogether.
Crisis averted.
Not so fast.
Mother Nature cranks the wind speed up a couple more notches. The trees are creaking and moaning. Leaves and walnuts are pounding the top of my tent. Small little 'ticking' noises start up. Gaining speed and volume.
I think it's sleeting.
Sweet!!!!
Then.....(slap, slap, smack, slap, smack, smack.....WHAM!!!!!!!)
Whoa....what the h*ll was that??
Dead silence. The wind has completely stopped. Someone flipped a switch, and the weather shut down. No more wind, just like that?? The trees are silent, the walnuts have stopped falling, the 'ticking' is done. Complete silence.
Did I imagine that WHAM!!??????
I tossed and turned...and finally threw my shoes on and went to investigate.
Hmmmm......tent poles just outside my tent. Where did those come from?
Oh yeah, they were holding that tarp roof up. I was almost speared in my tent by flying tent poles. Hmmmmm......that would have been bad. :-)
But that didn't make the WHAM.
It's dark out, and I start to wander towards the flea market tent. Wait a second......
Why are all the chairs we had in the flea market tent sitting in the middle of the campsite?
No wait........they aren't. They are sitting where we left them....INSIDE THE TENT!!!
It's the tent that's moved.
Literally, that big old tent took flight, straight up in the air...the chairs that were in it are still sitting where we left them. Not knocked over. Just sitting there. The tent went up and OVER them!!!
Uh oh....what stopped the tent from it's great escape?
No.....please tell me it wasn't what I think it was.
Oh yeah.....it was.
My car.
Yep, she took a direct hit for the team. Strong old beast has a tent sitting up against her, but no marks. I love my car. She's tough!!!
(sigh)
I knocked on mom and dad's camper, went in and woke them up. "Um, guys?" "Yeah, the tent tried to get away, but my car stopped it. Can you come help?"
Dad and I went out and took the tent down. Put away all the chairs, and starting lashing down anything else that might take flight.
And....anything else that shouldn't get wet. Oh yeah folks...for the first time ever in Springbrook history...it's SNOWING!!!!
My tent when I woke up.
My sister's tent.
The girls' truck.
A view looking at our campsite from the road.
A view of the lake...from the dam we stood on, not 6 hours earlier, watching the stars in the 100% cloudless sky.
The mood in the campground displayed on a vehicle in a campsite down the road. Everyone there was out and about, smiling. We're all crazy I guess!
Mel making breakfast for the fam.
Mom and dad enjoying the weather!!
The family members who bring out firewood every year weren't going to make it in due to the weather. Without it, we were going to be a might bit chilly. Dad was concerned driving the camper in the snow and high winds (with reason, Omaha already had about 6 inches on the ground).
The girls were only planning on being there Friday night and part of Saturday anyway.....and Inny and the family decided to head home. So, I was going to be by myself. I called Tom and the boys and told them not to come, I'd come home to them.
The four of us spent the rest of the day out shopping, eating, and hanging out.
The sun came out that afternoon, the snow was almost gone by that night. In hindsight, I should have told them to still come out, and we'd have stayed at the campground. But.....it wouldn't have been the same without the rest of the family.
WE HAD SNOW FOR SPRINGBROOK!!!! How friggin' awesome is that????
See you next year. You all have an open invite, just drop me a line and let me know if you need directions. 2nd weekend in October! Last year we were in blue jeans and tshirts....sweating out butts off. This year......
Sweet!!!!!!!!!
3 comments:
You had me all tense, I was fully expecting the abominable snowman to appear or at the very least, an angry raccoon.
Could we have cake and pie for my birthday? Maybe some chips? Seriously. How fun(except for the unfun stuff of course!)for you that it snowed! Hindsight is nearly always 20/20 it seems. Oh well.
@ mo - Sadly, no abominable snowman. Now THAT would have made one hell of a post!! :-)
@ Brook - it's your birthday, we can have anything you want. Those are the rules!!! :-) :-)
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