Once again I am driving my van to USA’s east coast from the state of Arizona. I always look forward to this trip. I visit friends, family and add points of interest to my itinerary. The USA has many national parks. My current goal is to visit at least four national parks new to me!
Within my first week on the road, I spent a day at Bosque del Apache in New Mexico to observe and photograph birds. In Amarillo, Texas, I slept in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
In Oklahoma City, I was hoping to bicycle ride on the paved bike trail paralleling the Oklahoma River. As I stepped out of my van and its door flew, I realized the wind would simply blow me on my bicycle over! So I walked and even that had some challenge when a gust came by! Everyone in town was readying for the “Run to Remember” in a couple of days. Many streets were closed. On past travel I visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The bombing of a federal building here on April 19, 1995 was horrific; this memorial honors the victims, survivors, rescuers and all who were affected. To this day, I recall the empty chairs and smaller ones for the children … take time to visit the memorial if you are in the area.
My overnight was at a family farm east of Oklahoma City. The have many animals: goats, chickens, dogs, longhorn steer … all rescued. I parked my van and readied for the night. My host mentioned a storm was coming in and suggested I turn my van into the wind. I agreed and thought it a good idea to have the van rock less. He wasn’t sure if the storm would be a tornado, but pointed out their storm shelter, just in case. He also recommended we keep in touch by phone in case he received important information about the storm. I never have my phone on after 8pm, even when I am home. I figured this night would be an exception.
I had never been in a tornado. Past tv news reports I had ever seen would show towns totally destroyed. Visualizing devastation seen on the news, I created a to-go-backpack with what I thought best to have in case I needed to leave my van. Or worse, if my van got picked up and crashed somewhere else I at least had some important items with me. The storm was predicted to arrive between 2 – 4 in the morning. I decided I should get some sleep … discovering it was not easy to do, despite telling myself 4 hours of sleep before the storm would be a good idea. Anxiety struck as I wondered about this upcoming storm. Could it be worse than the wind and rain storm on an island in New York State’s Stillwater Reservoir? There I laid in my tent as that storm was short of blowing me away. I got out of my tent, picked it up and moved it away from the island’s shoreline where trees could buffer the wind. I remember the sound of that storm to this day!
Five o’clock in the morning came with lots of rain … lots of wind … a roar of sounds I could not take time to decipher … the van shook and shook … I thought, could the van lift off the ground? I jumped off my bed and headed to the floor! After a short amount of time, it entered my mind to call my host. Should I be in the storm shelter right now? He said, I think the worst of it has happened. A minute later he called back and said, go to the shelter.
I had my headlamp in hand, put on my raincoat and grabbed my to-go-backpack. Immediately I wondered which door best to exit the van. With all the rain and wind, I decided to go out the driver’s door. The passenger seat had things on it and the sliding side van door seemed too cumbersome to maneuver with this storm.
It was dark! The headlamp worked okay, except I was moving so fast I did not see all the tree branches on the ground or the pools of rainwater. I slipped and landed on my left hip! Geez … more twigs, water, darkness and then finding the shelter in the dark … I arrived and climbed the steps down into a shelter not larger than a closet, and one you could not stand in. My host’s family: his wife and two children were already in the shelter. I sat in my host’s chair as he went to the house to check on the latest weather report. He also checked on his animals and his property.
At least a half hour later we emerged from the storm shelter. His wife told me this was their first use of the shelter this year. Tornadoes come through the end of April through mid-May. My host said it was a tornado with 90 mile per hour winds and not a large one! Large enough to shake my van, was all I could think!
We were all safe! We walked to my van and discovered a tree on the side of the sliding door. If I had decided to exit the van that way, I would never had been able to get out! Plus if I had not turned my van into the wind, the tree would have fallen on my windshield and engine. I was very, very lucky! My host’s property was not so fortunate. A tree on their home, shelters for the goats totally gone, their children’s trampoline once again for another year needing to be replaced, plus debris all over the property, and the next day he told me a young goat had died. We cleared a path for my van to exit the property.
This was my first tornado experience! I was appreciative of being with people who knew how to handle the situation. I learned a lot on this day and the next. My blog post will continue tomorrow.
