Day 4.5 - First Night at Elkhorn Ridge RV Park

It is about 3:20 am (Holly Springs time). Apparently, a typhoon, hurricane, gully washer, and some other kind of storm has hit directly on top of Elkhorn RV Park. I (Martha) wake up first. Jimmy slowly comes out of his sleep. We had, of course, not pulled in the awning over the door - the awning that Tiffin had to replace due to a defective motor about a month ago. So, out of bed I come to close the awning.

Peaches and Bear are really scared of this storm. Bear is running from one end of the RV to the other, and he will not let me catch him. Peaches is just cowering. I finally caught her and put her in the bed with Jimmy, figuring that Bear will follow soon.

No such luck. I wish that words could describe this storm. Yes, it got worse. There was lightning - no need for lights inside the RV. There was thunder. There was wind so strong it felt like an earthquake. The RV was shaking, Peaches and Bear were shaking and I was shaking.

It got so bad that we finally started to worry about the covers over the slides being damaged. So, up we both get again. Jimmy closes the front two slides and I close the back two. That really did reduce the feeling of iminent threat of death. I guess because you couldn't hear the wind so much around the slides.

But now we have a bigger problem. We have Bear located. He is in bed shaking. But, we cannot find Peaches. Down on the floor I go looking behind and under the sofas. No Peaches. She isn't in the litter box, nor is she locked in the bathroom. I even went to the point of getting out a can of treats (at 4:30 in the morning) to shake. That normally brings both of them running. No such luck - but Bear wants his treats right now.

I check the very last place she could be hiding. Inside the bedroom slide under the bed. There is Bear, and Peaches is coming out of the hiding place entrance by Jimmy's side of the bed. Okay, the cats are finally located. Maybe I can get back to sleep.

I don't know what time the rain finally slacked off enough for me to sleep - but it did. So, the story will resume later this morning when we head for the hills. I'll put more about the black hills and why they are called that in the next issue.

By the way, pictures will be posted on my flickr site later today (when there are enough to post).