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Good Morning,

Molly and I are sitting here in a KOA just east of Rochester, MN waiting to see if the weather is going to allow us to move today or not. Severe weather is on forecast and right now we're having a thunderstorm. They were supposed to have come through last night but are just now getting here, which is fine by me. After the experience I had on Friday night in Kennebec, SD. Don't want to go thrugh that again at night. We had a violent storm in mid morning hours that those who live there said was unprecendented for there and SD in general. Lightning so continuous that it lit the sky and you couldn't tell when one flash ended and another started. No thunder either. But the wind was the worst. Clocked at 91 mph. Needless to say, things were rocking. I grabbed Molly and we dived for my truck as did others in the campground. Seemed to last forever. When it subsided, the campground owners and emergency personnel were there immediately. All of us, people, kids and dogs went to the main building for awhile till we made sure no more was coming. It came so fast we had no time to get there. In the end. a pupup camper had been flipped on it's side as well as a 28ft. 5er, hitched to the truck. Emergency people broke out the back window of the 5er so the people could get out. Fortunately nobody was hurt. The roof of the camp office/store was peeled off and water had poured in, rendering it useless. Limbs and branches down, and two tent camps had their stuff blown to who knows where. I found my stabilizer jack blocks gone from under the jacks which told me my trailer must have lifted just a tad or something. Found them all though. Also had a picnic table thrown against my trailer and it broke a hole into the skin of the trailer and also broke my side running light. Now covered with duct tape till I get home. Needless to say, I don't want to go through another one of those storms again. Here in this KOA, I am off the plains, there are more trees around and I think it's more protective. But I will say, if any of you are traveling through SD, put the Kennebec KOA on your list. Not a bad campground, but the owners are super nice and despite their losses of the office and stuff blown all over the campground, their first and foremost concern was for us. They were right there. They also have a little shelter building with picnic tables they call the Chuckwagon and have two BBQ grills. They fix dinner and breakfast both. Depending on what you want off the menu. Reasonable priced too. Needless to say, breakfast got cancelled on Saturday morning.

So guess I will spend the morning catching up on here and see what you have all been doing. Was hoping to get into WI today, but may not get there. Really ansty to get back into MI. Right now it's rumbling and rain coming down, but dark out for this time of morning. Hope those of you in the heat and humidity get some relief before long as well as areas with too much rain. Those of you who are also on the roads, keeps safe out there. Have a nice day everyone.

Oh my gosh Sue!! Glad you & Molly & the other campers are OK. The 'things' can get fixed or replaced. What a bad end to such a great trip. Hopefully insurance will cover the fixes you need.

I'd say stay put if the weather remains stormy. Better to have a shelter to go to than be traveling if it hits again.


Oh- and morning' Sue & all that follow.

My goodness, Sue! Sounds like an adventure you could have done without. But glad you and Molly are safe. I have TWC on and it looks like some real nasty weather brewing up in that part of the country. Just wondering how much of it will come this way! Looks like no rain today but starting tomorrow and everyday the rest of the week. I just mowed the yard the other day and by yesterday it looked like I hadn't even done it! And the weeds, I can't keep up with them! I certainly have a healthy crop of them! I didn't plant any tomatoes this year but I had a whole bunch come up from last year so I thinned out most of them and left a few in. They are growing well but don't know enough about them to know if they will put on tomatoes. Guess I'll just have to wait and see! Well, not much else going on here today but I need to decide what to get into and then get to it! Still weeding out "stuff" in the house so that'll probably be on the top of the list today! Travel safe and have a good day.

Good morning all
Jeez Sue what an adventure! Stay put where you are in case the storms run up on you. Weather service says they're coming to NE IL mid-day so I expect you'll see them before us.

Still only one dog to walk this week. Owner's daughter texted that they will be home this week and don't need me. Will get the other dog done early in case those storms hit.

Had a nice Father's Day/ birthday lunch with DH and MIL. Then rest of day was quiet.

My son found his new dog, a 1 yr. old chocolate female Lab. A lady he knows found her in the local paper and told him about her. People were getting rid of her because she chased their cows. Guess he got her yesterday and she seems to be fitting in with his other Lab Sadie. Silly DH forgot to tell me her name so I'll call son today to ask about her. He texted me pictures, she looks a little like DH's dog Shooter.

Getting excited about next weekend's trip. Starting to plan food menu and what I'll need to put in for DH and his pup. Today Karen will come over (if it's not storming!) to go over what she needs to do for the other dogs, horses and rabbits. Basically she just needs to know where the food is kept, she pretty much knows how to take care of them!

Stay safe everyone and enjoy your day. Especially you, Donna (enjoy your day, that is!)
Kathy

Good Morning All, Glad you & Molly are safe Sue, what an experience, sorry about the damage to your trailer. !! It's going to be tropical heat here for the week and our grass is also growing way too fast. I had a fun weekend, went to a birthday party at a lake where thankfully there was an air conditioned shelter for us to dance to a really great band. It's an annual party and I see friends I've know for 40 years plus lots of newer friends, so always a good old time 'hippy type' gathering with everyone bringing a dish to share if they want, dancing whether you have a partner or not and a very casual affair. No one has them much anymore though but in the past they were frequent and so enjoyable.
Hope everyone has at least one fun thing to do today!

Good morning everyone.

Good Grief Sue!!! Glad you and Molly are safe.
I concur about the Kennebec KOA. I have stayed there several times and the owners and staff are exceptional.

Still waiting for the deck boards to dry out before staining. The big problem is the 8x8 area where the hot tub was, those boards have never been stained and they absorb the rain water like a sponge.

Not much else going on here today. Going out in a bit, then home to plan a September camping trip.

Have a great day and safe travels to all.
Brenda

Good Morning !!! Like Sue, I'm laying over here in this windy area, no rain. Just heard sirens coming from town, guess someone should have and didn't, hope no one hurt.
The way the wind blew all night and continues too, and shaking the rv, I know it would be not smart to get out on the road. I'm In a windy state, but this is more then usual.
Supposed to be really hot too, but I'm on a water site, so looking at it and with A/C, its nice here.

I've been reading most days, everyone seems busy. So sad for the horses, and poor Donna, in her soggy state. Carolb, glad your break is well enough to post some, you were missed. Sue, you've had a fabulous trip so far, hope this won't mar it that much, so glad you all were safe up there. So sad about the rigs being tossed over, glad people in the 5er were safe when pulled out.

Think Maggie and I, will go out for a little walk, she can't do much anymore, but we need out before its too hot. No need to comb the hair again, our first time out, blew the hair everywhere I have plenty of projects to do today and also have a book on the outer banks of NC to read, was just there with Liz and Nan, so neat to read about it now. Don't remember it being windy there

Have a nice day, those on the roads stay safe and those at home you need to stay safe too,
Just enjoy your day,
CArol

Good Morning,

Sue, I have been concerned about you, Beth and Chris as I view the severe weather maps. Now will add CArol to that list! Sure glad you are okay! I was in a 90 mph storm in Southern Arizona a few years ago so know it is not fun. Too hot here, but have been fortunate as far as bad storms are concerned. Wind is blowing here so a bit of rockin'.

11 year old granddaughter knocked this morning and offered to make her speciality for my breakfast - eggs in a hole. Obviously a good start to my day. My son-in-law's family is getting together for 4th of July and I am invited - that's big since that hasn't always happened in the past. My DD has really changed her attitude toward me.

Everyone stay safe and safe travels as well.

oh my goodness Sue! so glad everyone is safe though. Just wanted to say good morning everyone, had a great day driving through the hills yesterday, nothing to really tell about as it was pretty much family drama but I'm glad it had nothing to
do with me. Ya'll have a great day and be safe!

Sue, your experience sure sounds frightening to this California wimp. It reminded me of my trip last summer when I was scared out of my wits by thunderstorms from Illinois to eastern New Mexico. I realize we're in a drought here in California, but even in a normal year we have NO rain in the summer. It just amazes me how everyone on the forum is talking about rain. I don't think this California native would make it anywhere else. I'm glad you and Molly are safe and hope the damage will be easily fixed. I can understand your desire to get home quick.
Sandi

Getting in just under the noon wire!

Wow Sue! What a scary adventure! All of you in SD sure got hit bad, with damage done. Hope you made it thru the storms this morning, Sue. Southern MN got hit pretty hard this morning with rain, high winds and hail. Up here, we just got about an hour of torrential rains and a little wind. I went out to check on the camper after I got up, to see how it faired. Looked good and not a single drop of water inside! Good job patching it up, Rita! Will be a very good selling point (once I can get the crank problem fixed!).

Going to run some errands with my dad shortly and then go play golf this afternoon. Today is "Fun Night" with contests and food! Hopefully, I can get some phone calls in yet today to see what to do with the camper.

Hope you all stay safe and dry!

Sue and Molly, so glad you are ok and will pray your day and journey home are safe. That would scare me so bad to be in that. Hope the damage is easily fixed.
Glad everyone else is ok and pray for your safety wherever you are.
We have a quiet day today here in Northern CA with temps hot and dry as usual. I think last count was 4 major fires up and down the state and almost daily grass fires in our area. Scary and millions of gallons of precious water being used to try to save homes. Hoping that El Niño pans out and the drought is eased this next fall and winter because not sure how we will cope with no water. ESP with a few cities saying its our water and we will use as much as we want to keep their lawns green and their pools full.
My BFF called this morning, down here from Oregon to visit her Mom and she and I will go play this evening. A nice change. Tomorrow hubby has a session witha speech pathologist and the X-ray dept to have him swallow barium in various thicknesses to see how bad the problem is and if she can find ways to help him. It would be wonderful if she can as he's awfully tired of puréed everything!
Stay safe all.
Velda

Sue - crazy adventure in that storm! How did Molly do - did she freak out by the noise? I'm also in CA so we do not see the skies light up with all that noise that often. We would like some of that rain. Take care and enjoy your journey home.

Linda

Sue, I know that weather was scary. Glad the damage wasn't any worse. I was in a campground that a tornado came through many years ago. All the wind and thunder and lightening was scary. We didn't have any damage but some of the rvs in the campground did. Part of the campground sloped down to a small creek. It's a good thing there weren't any rvs in the bottom part of the campground. The next morning the creek was a roaring river. This was before all the weather reports we can get now. We didn't even know about the tornado until the next day.

I told my son that I would help him bring his dog to the vet tomorrow but I can't get in touch with him to find out what time. I need to make an appointment for one of the barn cats. He has something going on with one of his ears. I have been cleaning it out and putting the medicine from Walmart but it's not getting much better. I would like to have all the time back I have spent waiting on that boy over the years.

I need to go to Sam's before I go camping Thursday. We are out of steaks. My DH cooks one every Sunday and I really had to dig to find one for father's day. This time of year I try to use the food that's in the freezer in case we have a hurricane. Seems like every time I make a hole something fills it up. I'm glad this freezer has an alarm because Harold left the door open the other day. He would have never heard the alarm. It took me a while to figure out what was beeping.

Martha

Sure, you got hit harder than I did, but we were on the edge and had bad hail two nights with damage both of those nights. Lots of insurance companies getting claims.