I'm a southern girl so I'm used to uncertain weather conditions; have grown up with them. I have made it through our hot summer temperatures in excess of 100 degrees, flash flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes, but this does not mean that I LIKE any of it. When the skies begin to turn dark and the wind begins to blow, one can find me quickly clicking on the Weather Channel to see what is headed my way. I know people (including my very own sister...) who absolutely love storms and could most likely be a "storm chaser"; this is something that I will never understand. A storm generally finds my doxies chasing me to my closet, where I tend to hide until it blows over.
Friday, I had decided to make a day trip into town from the lake house to run a few errands when I suddenly noticed that the sky was beginning to turn a shade of gray that I knew meant a possible rainstorm. As I quickly finished everything I had to do, I continued to watch those clouds and the few large drops of rain that had begun to fall. I didn't want it to not rain; we desperately needed it. What I didn't want, however, was for it to start thundering and lightening while I was out on the road...I needed to get back to the lake FAST!
With merely a few miles left to my exit, the skies opened up and it began to flood; I could barely see the road before my eyes. This still didn't bother me UNTIL...I could see "vertical lightening" (YES! I classify lightening...with "vertical" being the worst kind) in the distance. With each loud boom of thunder and flash of lightening, I began to get more and more anxious, but as I hit my exit and headed home, the rain had already begun to subside. WHEW! I had made it. Getting caught in a thunderstorm while driving was pretty nerve wracking. Little did I know that the next day would be a WHOLE LOT WORSE!
Saturday afternoon, Robby decided he wanted to try out the weight board. That thing had not been used in years and I really wasn't sure why he wanted to do such a thing. Not only did I think he could possibly hurt himself, attempting to do this, I had also just seen an alligator floating around out there a few days prior. YEA...me plus lake water...NOT HAPPENING! However, I agreed to put my swimsuit on to get a little Vitamin D, and along with Ryan and Allison, we jumped in the boat for an "adventure"...
Ryan tried to explain to Robby that getting up on the weight board behind a bass boat would be no easy task. Nothing doing, though, he was going to give it a try. And after a few unsuccessful attempts, we all decided to just go for a boat ride to the very end of the river, where the dam was. We were quite enjoying the ride and also the fact that there were not many boaters on that end of the river, when the sun suddenly disappeared behind the clouds...dark clouds, I noticed. Oh well, now it would be a nice, much cooler boat ride, I thought. Little did I know what was soon to be in store for us.
After making it to the dam, we turned the boat around to head home. As we were doing so, Ryan said that he had seen lightening out in the distance. Now THAT got my attention quickly. I'm pretty sure that I got a panicked look on my face as I urged him to "drive as fast as he could" to get us back before we got in the middle of a big thunderstorm on the river. As we began to attempt just that, I felt the first drops of rain begin to fall. Robby (knowing my extreme fear of thunderstorms...) said, "Oh...a little rain won't hurt you. You're in your bathing suit, after all." I thought about that for a minute and he was right; the rain wouldn't hurt me...it was that potential for "vertical lightening" while being out on the water that had me beside myself. As Ryan continued to speed down the river, the rain came down harder and harder. Allison and I were both sitting on the floor now trying to keep from getting pelted by the now "heavy" rainstorm we were caught in. Robby and Ryan were both getting hit pretty hard and Robby kept asking Ryan if we were getting close to the next bridge, where we could take shelter...
It took us a little while, but we made it to the bridge...
There was another boat under there too and we sat and watched as the sky literally opened up and POURED rain. And like I said, it isn't the rain that bothers me...it was the thunder and lightening that joined in shortly that had me curled up into a ball underneath the steering wheel! I cannot begin to tell you how frightening it is to be out on the water with lightening flashing all around you. At one point, we saw it skitter across the water and hit the gate at the landing. I recovered enough to grab my phone and call Justin. We were still about 6 miles from home and there was NO WAY I was getting back out in that storm. I told Justin to go get the boat trailer and come pick us up at the landing. By the time he got there, the lightening and thunder had subsided and it was only sprinkling. We were soaked to the bone and quite chilly, but thankfully we had not been hurt out there.
Nothing has changed. I still do not like thunderstorms. Probably never will. It has decided to rain again here in the south today, but so far that rain has not been accompanied by any strong winds, thunder or lightening. However, if it does, you can find me in my closet...That is where I would MUCH rather be during a storm.
Wow, how fun!
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