Hail, Hail Rock 'n' Roll - Spring in Central TX

PART 3 OF 3

I guess May 9th brought the scariest night for me. I'm glad that it was a short storm. It only lasted about 15 minutes -- but that was enough for me! I was so involved with watching the storm on radar, I forgot I had all three parrots out. All of a sudden, I had all three of them on the dining table 'begging' me to put them up! It just rolled in at once and was over as fast as it got there. 70 mph straight line winds -- knocked out the power - toppled utility poles -- took down some of the trees in town square, one block away from the RV park. It was quite the rock'n' roll -- like an eathquake for a few minutes -- rattled the RV enough that it sent the cages toppling to the floor! The cat immediately ran into her riding space and stayed there until morning and Li't Bit stuck to me like velcro! Linda and Ed came by when it was over to make sure we were all OK.

The sounds and lights from outside brought an eery sensation inside - I'm sure every emergency and utility vehicle from Gatesville and surrounding communities were running with lights and sirens. The pulsating glow of the flashing yellow, blue and red lights from the vehicles running up and down the streets resembeled an unfinished artists canvas reflecting from the windows and on the walls. No sense in even trying to check for hail damage until the AM.

Daybreak made visible the exetent of the damage. Major power lines in town are down, trees and utility poles uprooted, snapped off and laying across the streets. Johnnie and Brenda both stopped by to make sure things were OK - how do folks get along when they don't have good friends!

As far as I could tell, the only damage was a few marks from hail on the front end of the RV. The trailer next to me took the brunt of the storm. So the side of my RV and the truck were protected by the trailer. I told my neighbor that was a 'right neighborly' thing for him to do!

Through the power outtages, I found that the Power-Pal I have to run my C-PAP will run for 7 hours if I use the 12V adaptor cord. I was concerned about having my CPAP when I'm on the road overnight and not hooked up to shore power. I had tried it out on several occasions and found that using standard 120V plug I only got 4 hours - it would take two Power-Pals to get me through the nite.

The wings on the TV antenna are bent, but the main pole/support seems to be OK. The carpet in the bathroom is wet. I'm sure it was just the roof vents flapping and flopping all nite and the rain blew in - will have to see about getting some covers over those vents.

Due to all of the power outages during the storms, I found that my Power-Pal would provide electricity for my C-PAP for 7 hours using the 12 Volt cord, but only 4 hours using the regular cord. That's a great piece of news. That means, with my two Power-Pal units, I can easily stay on the road and not worry about having power for the C-PAP at nite! Sure doesn't take much to make me happy!

I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to being in the RV with the winds and the storms, but little did I know that this was just a 'dry run' and 'practice session' for what was to come in Iowa this spring!