Good Friday Tornadoes and Camping

I was so excited on Friday because we were going camping. I supervised everything going into the camper and finally it was time for me and Scout to load up. Mama said we were supposed to get storms on Friday night and it was supposed to rain most of the weekend, but I didn't care. We arrived at the state park around 10:30 a.m. Mama said things didn't look right because a lot of campers were leaving. Mama had checked the website before we left home because she was concerned about flooding in the park, but there was nothing about it being closed. We got all the way to the gate which is a few miles from the entrance and they told us the park was being evacuated. Daddy said we would have to go back home. I pouted the whole way home. I didn't even care that we drove into heavy rain and hail. I wanted to camp. After we got home, Daddy said we could see if there was another park that we could go to, so we got in the car and drove and drove. He didn't want to take the motor home and waste gas if there were no openings. We had checked the website and it showed everything was sold out, but we figured there would be cancellations due to the rain. We were correct. We found an opening at a park! We headed home to pick up the RV. It was so crazy driving back and forth, but finally we arrived at the campsite and set up our camp.

We took a nice long walk before dinner and then after dinner, the storms came. We actually only had rain, but the St. Louis area had tornadoes! It was so scary watching the radar screen. I think we started watching the radar around 6:30 p.m. and it was still on after 11 p.m. A tornado hit Lambert Airport which is a landmark in St. Louis. Neighborhoods were torn up. We heard that 1,000 homes were damaged and about 100 are completely destroyed. No one was killed though. That is amazing, so many are calling it the Good Friday Miracle. We heard that our house had golf ball sized hall on Friday night, but Grandpa and Grandma came by and checked on the house and said we didn't have any damage.

There was non-stop tornado coverage on Saturday and even today, our local news is on instead of the Today Show. The airport is open again which is truly amazing considering all the damage that it had. The windows are just boarded up for now and I think they are just making do with things, but at least they are open and people are able to travel.

We will have rain through Wednesday. We have had so much rain. Flooding is now a concern, but we are okay at our house. We just have a muddy yard that Scout finds extremely fun.

Our camping trip wasn't as much fun as normal due to the rain. We walked as much as we could, but most of the time we just stayed in the RV. I really didn't want to come home yesterday, but Daddy said we had to go back to work. We have another trip booked for the middle of May and that should be a fun trip because it will be for four days.

Jack
The Greyhound Who Likes His Home But Likes Camping Better