REELFOOT STATE PARK TENNESSEE

I like to keep tabs on the weather. It’s important to me, mostly because of all the time I spend on boats. Being on Table

Rock Lake or on the Pacific Ocean for that matter, makes being aware of any storms crucial to ones ability to stay alive.

Now that Vicki and I are spending more and more time in our PUP , our 17 foot trailer, weather is still a factor we take seriously. This brings us to our most recent trip to Florida.

We planned to travel from St. Louis south East to Tennessee, then south to Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park.

We heard about a storm down south but weren’t too concerned.

Well, we made it to Tennessee’s Reelfoot State Park, grabbed a nice campsite, and I caught a huge fish off the bank. … well to be honest, it was a Gizzard Shad and I snagged it.

We had a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant and then after a nice game of Lost Cities, was reminded of the storm.

At about 8:00 pm the storm finally hit with all power knocked out quickly.

The lightning was amazing, the wind as hard as I had ever felt. In the distance we were alerted by a distant tornado siren, first to the south, then to the north. Initially we had lightening, then high winds and then the horizontal rain that whipped and flew like it was being thrown by some demonic fire hose.

It was quite horrible.

Wind and rain was ripping as if being thrown by a 30 foot waterfall. Lightning firing constantly, like strobe lights at a high school dance in the 70s, we watched fearful and frightened.

Tragicly, three people were killed 3/4 of a mile north of us. Sometimes you debate whether or not you should take cover. Not last night. There was no question

By 2:00 am the storm had left but a gusty 20 mph wind persisted.

The Pup rocked with the blasts of wind until daybreak. We threw two more blankets on the bed and slept in till 7:00, made breakfast and headed out.

Next stop Lake Lurleen Alabama.