STORM CHASED
June 16th
The rest of that day was bizarre! (Err, Robin, wasn't every day?)
We navigated like storm chasers in reverse. Sarah identified two storms that were converging on the Kansas/Oklahoma panhandle/Texas plains areas. Looking on the road map, and checking the speed on the forecast for the progress of the storms, we picked roads (eventually swapping from one parallel road to another), to try to stay in front of the two. The weather was completing the perfect pincer movement.
The skies around and behind were stunning -
I think we must have driven a fair few miles this day! In fact, we nearly ran out of fuel so urgent were we to keep going. We were forced to detour into the middle of nowhere, from the centre of nowhere, to find somewhere open on a Sunday. Appropriately, we succeeded at Fort Supply, Kansas, before moving on; slipping further South and West into Texas.
That night, we boondocked again. This time, outside a MacDonalds (iffy internet access) in the town of Shamrock (Home of the 'fighting Irish' apparently - strange, I thought that was any pub). It was a kind of truck stop, so we could at least run the generator to keep the aircon going. Humidity must have been close to 100%, and the temperature was 85F at 11pm.
We ran out of escapes. The radio was breaking in with alerts and warnings, for the county of Lipscomb and surroundings (guess where we were). I made a new playlist called "Firestorm", and we hunkered down until it hit! If we thought yesterday was bad....
The rain sounded like a severed head being pounded against the roof of our RV. The lightning was... well, it's difficult to explain. This storm was the same one that had been hammering Denver in Colorado, and had now picked up more energy over the plains. As I said it that night, hiding under my pillow - this thing was a bleep monster.
We didnt sleep for 3 hours in the middle of the night, and after a short relieved sleep, we woke to a soaked car park. The first rain in some parts in 3 years.
We were tired, and needed to find somewhere to rest... little did we know what the next few days would bring!
The rest of that day was bizarre! (Err, Robin, wasn't every day?)
We navigated like storm chasers in reverse. Sarah identified two storms that were converging on the Kansas/Oklahoma panhandle/Texas plains areas. Looking on the road map, and checking the speed on the forecast for the progress of the storms, we picked roads (eventually swapping from one parallel road to another), to try to stay in front of the two. The weather was completing the perfect pincer movement.
The skies around and behind were stunning -
I think we must have driven a fair few miles this day! In fact, we nearly ran out of fuel so urgent were we to keep going. We were forced to detour into the middle of nowhere, from the centre of nowhere, to find somewhere open on a Sunday. Appropriately, we succeeded at Fort Supply, Kansas, before moving on; slipping further South and West into Texas.
That night, we boondocked again. This time, outside a MacDonalds (iffy internet access) in the town of Shamrock (Home of the 'fighting Irish' apparently - strange, I thought that was any pub). It was a kind of truck stop, so we could at least run the generator to keep the aircon going. Humidity must have been close to 100%, and the temperature was 85F at 11pm.
We ran out of escapes. The radio was breaking in with alerts and warnings, for the county of Lipscomb and surroundings (guess where we were). I made a new playlist called "Firestorm", and we hunkered down until it hit! If we thought yesterday was bad....
The rain sounded like a severed head being pounded against the roof of our RV. The lightning was... well, it's difficult to explain. This storm was the same one that had been hammering Denver in Colorado, and had now picked up more energy over the plains. As I said it that night, hiding under my pillow - this thing was a bleep monster.
We didnt sleep for 3 hours in the middle of the night, and after a short relieved sleep, we woke to a soaked car park. The first rain in some parts in 3 years.
We were tired, and needed to find somewhere to rest... little did we know what the next few days would bring!
