Rockin’ and a Rollin’

Tuesday, October 27

I wake around 11:30 with an i-pad on my chest. I must have fallen asleep while reading. This is a typical ‘bad habit’ of mine. I get up, take my contact lenses out and do my daily bedtime routines. I lay back down and fall to sleep.

Sometime around 12:30 I wake up. I hear what sounds like rain. But wait, I don’t hear the usual pitter patter on the roof. It sounds more like something rocking Perl from the side. I look out my little bitty window and see a bush thrashing around fiercely.

I grab my iPhone and immediately check the weather forecast. This is what I see on my screen:

Oh no! I rush up out of bed and hurry to pull the awning in before it rips off and becomes a sail in the wind. Loki gets upset and starts barking. He can tell that something isn’t right. The winds blow and blow as Perl rocks back and forth taking the assault.

The Halloween can lights hanging on the outside of the RV are clanging and banging around. The jacks creak underneath and it sounds like a wind tunnel whipping around down there. I am grateful that I’m not trying to drive on the rim of the canyon right now. One good gust and you’re over the edge.

Miraculously, the kids sleep right through it all. I have no idea how. I am not a light sleeper and this certainly rocked me awake. The wind continues blowing and creaking the RV. I wonder if I should wake the kids up and get everyone into the bathroom as shelter. I decide against it and ride out the wind storm.

I begin to think of the tent campers. Man oh man they must be panicked right about now. I cannot imagine tent camping in this. Around 1:30, my nerves have calmed down enough to  lay back down. Loki follows and curls up next to me on the bed. The last of the winds die down right around the predicted time, 2:00. Loki and I drift into slumber, we truly have weathered the storm!

The next morning we find the tablecloth and a few odds and ends scattered around the camping loop. We find out the tent campers sought shelter in their cars. My outdoor lounger is closed shut and one of the bikes tipped over. But we’re all safe and that’s what really matters.

I’ve experienced a few storms in Perl before but none like that one. That was the true feeling of vulnerability! Later the ranger tells us that they’ve had 90 mph winds down in the canyon before. I am so glad I wasn’t there to experience them.

I ask him, “Has anyone ever had damage to their RV’s because of it”?

He replies, “Not that they’ve reported but we have had some boulders land on vehicles before”.

Me, “Really?” (wincing on the inside).

“Yea, we’ve had them land on cars and dent the tops in,” he shares.

I don’t dare ask him how many fatalities have occurred as a result of boulders falling. I also don’t ask about rattlesnake, coyote, flash flooding or bobcat deaths in the park either! What you don’t know won’t hurt you, right??!!

Well, I would like to know when bad weather is coming so I can prepare ahead of time if at all possible. I’ve had this weather radio on my ‘wish list’ for a while. But then again, I have many, many other things on my ‘wish list’ for the RV that I have yet to purchase. I’m trying to stick to the bare minimum. Otherwise an RV’er could go broke buying all the handy gadgets out there.

The Weather Channel does have an app that I use. Not only can you check the weather but you can set it to notify you of any severe weather according to where you are. I didn’t have this enabled before but I do now.

 Wednesday, October 28

We went into Amarillo and had lunch at Youngblood’s Cafe. It’s been featured on Man vs. Food and we wanted to check it out. The food was really good, the green chile sauce even better.

After lunch it was off to take care of the piles and piles of laundry. The laundromat was pretty scary looking and there wasn’t a laundry attendant to be found. I guess it was truly help yourself. I was afraid a rat was going to go scurrying across the bathroom floor! But the clothes got clean and then we were on our way.

The next stop was Target for a few necessary items along with groceries. When we got home it was burgers and chicken on the grill along with baked potatoes and cauliflower. Wednesday was a day of getting things done.

Thursday, October 29

We went in search of geocaches with no success. Might have to do with the fact that I have no idea what I’m doing. I did figure out how to put the coordinates into my GPS. We’re going to give it another go later in the week.

Later we hiked the Pioneer Trail which took us down to the Red River. It’s not much of a river anymore but it’s believed to be the river that carved the canyon. We spotted a big birds nest at the river.

Red River

The trail was well marked but boy do they need to take care of the tall grasses. In some spots the trail was no wider than my two feet put together with grasses taller than my hip on either side. I kept waiting for a rattlesnake to leap out and get me!

We also drove around checking out the park. That’s really the only way to take it all in. There are some really cool rock formations. The park is really big and there are a LOT of trails everywhere. As we were checking out one of the campgrounds, we spotted some wild turkeys.

The girls earned the parks Junior Naturalist badge. It’s really pretty with the park icon pictured on it, the Lighthouse. It’s a formation that has eroded to look like, you got it, a lighthouse. There’s a trail we can hike to go take a look. I’m putting that on the agenda along with the trail leading to a cowboy dugout.

Speaking of cowboys, there was a real cowboy in the park today trying to wrangle up some livestock. I guess livestock have managed to make their way down into the canyon and the cowboys need to get ’em on out! The park rangers have to escort the cowboys in and out of the canyon. Pretty cool!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when you do your regular Amazon shopping. Whether big or small, all purchases are greatly appreciated!

{HUGS} from the Crew!