The Calm After The Storm

Yesterday we woke to the sound of rain, rain, and more rain. I made breakfast pizza and Mark delivered some to Jim and Ellie. Around mid morning, the rain slacked off for a little while and Jim made a run to the laundry. After her returned we decided we would go to Gill's for lunch. Ellie and I chose grilled shrimp and baked sweet potatoes while the guys opted for chopped sirloin with grilled onions, mushrooms, and brown gravy.

After lunch we wandered back to the RV Park and settled in at Jim and Ellie's for an afternoon visit. We worked some more on our summer plans, played on Google Earth, laughed and had a good visit. After a long while, we decided it was time to go home. As we were leaving, we noticed a dark cloud coming up over the service center. I decided to take a look at the weather radar, and sure enough there was a storm alert that had just been issued for Red Bay, which was to include large hail and high winds. By the time I could open the window and tell Jim, the campground host was coming around to alert everyone. We pulled in the slides and headed over the service center/customer waiting area which is the designated storm shelter.

And, almost before we got in, the rain came, the hail came, and and wind blew. The hail was about ping pong ball size with jagged edges. OH NO! Thank goodness it didn't last a long time, and thank goodness, Mark and Jim had pulled the cars up against the building. The storm moved through pretty quickly heading east. By the time it got past us, it had turned into a tornado watch and ruffled up some areas south and east of here.

The rest of the night was pretty quite weather wise. The second storm of the evening took place inside my motor home as I spend the rest of the evening on the telephone with Direct TV. What a treat. I was trying to get a new account set up for the motor home separate from the account we were sharing in Fort Worth with Karen and Kenneth. Gosh, I thought I was asking for something easy, but after talking to seven different reps/techs, I was was connected to the one that knew exactly what I wanted! So, after about 2 hours, I finally accomplished what I set out to do. Yeah, now we can get local channels almost everywhere we go. Maybe, we will have to get East/West coast programming, but for now, we are going to try it by just programming in the local zip codes for the area where we are camped. Oh, my where did the evening go? Guess, we better get to bed as tomorrow we will be back to the waiting game in Red Bay.

So, not knowing if they would call us or not, we were up early this morning, showered, and dressed by a little after 7 a.m., just in case they were going to call us to a bay. In the meantime, Mark was out and on the roof to see if we had any hail damage. None to the motor home, thank goodness, and just a few pings to the roof of the jeep. Jim and Ellie fared well too, while Glynn and Sylvia had damage to the slide out covers and a/c vent covers. And, there were several in the park that had quite a bit of damage. Two of the service guys have been going around today checking every one's motor homes for damage. If necessary, they are writing a report for your insurance company.

Mark also, installed an additional towel rack in the bathroom for me. And, as usual, that turned out to be a major job because one screw refused to cooperate. LOL While Mark was busy with that project, Jim was checking out in the service area and Ellie was busy packing things away inside the coach. We had planned to go down to the local Mexican Food for the lunch buffet.

Today is a travel day for Jim and Ellie. They will be leaving after lunch to go to Birmingham to have the 2nd recall done at the Cummins dealership. Safe travels you guys...see you down the road real soon.

Meanwhile life goes on here in Red Bay...we are now in the calm after the storm. Glynn got their motor home into a service bay this afternoon for the last of the work he needs done. Sooooo, maybe just maybe our number will come up sometime this week. So, until it does, we will continue to enjoy ourselves in Red Bay.