"It was a dark and stormy night"
You would think that seasoned fulltimers would have been better prepared for what happened Sunday night, but we weren't. When we were traveling through 'tornado alley' we were aware of our surroundings, whether the park has a shelter or not, etc. One thing we liked about the Kerrville Texas area, and the Hill Country in general, is that there is a very low risk of tornadoes. As the locals would tell us after Sunday night, "we just don't get tornadoes here", "been here all my life and never had a tornado".
This area does get severe thunderstorms which our weather apps have helped us. We have relied so much on the weather apps that we no longer have a weather radio. So in the midst of a thunderstorm Sunday night we get an amber alert type warning separate from our weather apps screaming that a tornado has been sighted within one mile of our location.
We just stare at each other and start stuttering. The power goes out then we start mumbling and running around like the Keystone Cops of old. We check our phones and the storms have disrupted our internet so we can't see current radar. We quickly realize how badly prepared we are; we don't have a weather radio and we don't know where the nearest storm shelter is but we do know there is not one here at the park. We don't even have a dang 'go bag'. We say a quick prayer, "Lord, I wanna go to heaven, I just don't wanna go tonight". We also made a vow to be much better prepared the next time.
Bob goes out and talks to some neighbors who don't know where shelters are either and are deciding whether to run to a hotel or not. Bob decides to bring in the cat carriers so we can leave if we want to but he stands on the steps in the rain holding the cat carriers so the cats can't see them and tries to tell Jo to close the bedroom door so the cats cannot get under the bed. Jo is still in Keystone Cop mode so it took a while to get the door closed. Thankfully she did close the door because as soon as the wet carriers and the wet one carrying them came in JJ and Sandra hid. Much easier to get them in the downstairs area than from under the bed.
Now Tiger did surprise us as she is usually the most afraid of storms. She did slept on the couch and did not move. We put JJ and Sandra in the cages and just decided to wait and see. Once in the cages and with occasional cooing from us they were OK. The tornado warning passed as did the severe thunderstorm warning so we let the cats out of the cages.
The next day we read that a tornado did not touch down in Kerrville and we worked on being better prepared. We bought a weather radio which we plan on using if we lose our internet again.
We weren't as lucky in finding a storm shelter. Not being in tornado alley and in an area where most of the house don't have basements we are not sure where to go yet but we are still looking. We are also putting together a 'go bag'.
Strange as it sounds with power outages we are glad that we live in an RV, strange as that may sound. We are glad because we have 12 volt lights that stay on so we can see while in Keystone Cop mode and we have a generator in case the outage lasts.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
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