Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Monday Sunrise and a big Surprise

Monday December 10, 2012
Site 4 Gamble Rogers State Park
Flagler Beach, Florida

 

Another coolish, foggy and misty day.  It’s dawn (30 minutes before sunrise) and here is what I see.  A LITTLE COLOR AT DAWN.  If I’d been 5 minutes later I’d have missed it.   By then, it is gone behind all the dark clouds at the horizon but still, I am thrilled.  Especially when I notice WAY up at the top of the picture that little “star”.   That’s the moon. 

 

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David comes out about sunrise time and catches me watching.  Remember this overlook is right out our front door.  50 steps maybe. 

 

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We don’t see the sun rise since the dark cloud cover is too thick by that time, but we do see its effects in the pink colors of the clouds above.

 

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We hang around for another half hour and this is what we see.

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The clouds are definitely thickening to cover it up as it rises.

 

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By the time we leave, the sun looks like a full moon on a cloudy night.
We can hardly see the water or the beach.

 

Dec 10 Monday (41)

 

The most exciting thing of the day happens while we are eating dinner. My phone makes a very commanding noise I’ve never heard before.  So I spring to attention and look to see what is the matter. 

 

EMERGENCY ALERT!  

Extreme Alert:   Tornado warning in this area til 6:15pm EST.  Take Shelter NOW.   Check local media.-NWS  Monday December 10 5:37pm

 

We hustle outside, put away the awning (and David’s newly hung lights).  No automatic awning here.  We have to undo the flapper guards, take off the stakes, release the arms, roll up the awning.  We stow the chairs and other things under the coach, grab our bag of emergency things (medical folders, legal folders, laptop, cell phone etc) and go down to the bath house to wait.

From the 34 spaces in the campground, there were only 3 other people here.  Not sure if the others haven’t heard or have lived in Florida long enough to be unconcerned.  I do wonder why someone from the campground hadn’t come by to notify all the campers especially since there are so few sites.  But there isn’t anyone in the office all night and the only person at the campground is the volunteer host so perhaps he didn’t know either.

In any case, the rains pour but the tornado hit 45 miles south of us.  We wait about half an hour and decide to go back when things seem to calm down.  Of course just as we get out from under the overhang and on the road,  the skies open up.  We are soaked as we run back to the coach.   David has forgotten to close one of the roof vents so the kitchen floor is soaked too. 

This is our 3rd or 4th tornado ‘watch and wait in a shelter’ in the past two years of being on the road.   This one was a total surprise.

No harm done and I still marvel at how lucky I am to be able to spend an hour in the morning just hanging out watching whatever the sun decides to do.

19 comments:

  1. The first time I received a weather alert on my phone the sound scared me half to death. It was for flash flooding in Phoenix while I sat at the North Rim. At least you got a little color in that cloudy sky.

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  2. I heard the tornado warning and thought about you two. While it's too bad a tornado struck at all, I am at least glad you guys are alright. You're right to be concerned about the weather...as a local native, I was concerned as well.

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  3. That is an odd sound on the phone isn't it? Heard that when i was in Iowa last August!!! It poured rain then too...

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  4. I'll bet that was a big surprise. Gosh, I had no idea about the emergency phone alerts. I guess I have lots to learn.

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  5. Yikes! Those aren't fun. I remember being in Houston last year when there was a tornado warning near us. It was a bit scary!

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  6. I thought of you and David while listening to the Weather Channel's report on the tornado warnings. Glad you are safe.

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  7. oh, wow, Sherry... gorgeous pictures but how scary. I gotta look and see where you are ... this Florida weather is really something!

    ANd I want to read your blog on my laptop screen... rats! this little phone is too small to see the pictures like I want to see them... just gorgeous

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  8. Oh dear! We've never had to take shelter yet, but nevertheless tornado watches and warnings are always alarming. Glad it didn't hit where you are.

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  9. Glad all is well and you had no damage! We pay attention and move to a safe place whenever there is a weather warning in our area. We had our scare this summer and never want to be in the coach again when severe weather comes knocking:o((

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  10. We have the weather radio set up .... it has stayed silent ... just the way we want it to ;-) As scary as it is to first hear the alert sounds, it's better to hear and obey than not.

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  11. got those flood warnings all the time out in California and Arizona and very rarely did we see a cloud in the sky... paid attention to them none the less

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  12. Maybe it's time we got a smart phone!

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  13. wow that morning was the calm before the storm for sure...we were in that situation in Pensacola last year..pretty scary for Canadians happening for the first time...we also packed up the essentials...

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  14. Another great reminder to be emergency prepared! Need to get that storm radio out and use it, too!

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  15. Oh my goodness, you are just down the road from us! We are at Bulow RV Resort until Tuesday next week. We took a drive on Wednesday and went right past the campground, commenting on how nice it looked.

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  16. Nothing like a tornado alert to get the blood pumping.

    I put vent covers over my roof vents, cheap and easy to install, that way the vents can remain open even in the rain. For me, it was an idiot proof solution to trying to remember to close the vents when it rained. And you know how much I need idiot proof solutions... ;c)

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  17. Oh Sherry, Sherry, Sherry
    When you get a tornado warning it's time to seek shelter immediately, not the time to take the awning down.

    The time to take down awnings is when there is just a tornado watch.

    I know I gave you the Weather bug app that I use....watch that radar girl!

    Most of the campground shelters I've seen aren't any safer than the rv.

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  18. 45 miles away...kind of sounds close. I'm glad you were safe and that your phone did alert you - I'd say that's a good use for a phone!! Lovely picture of you watching the sunrise. Pretty pictures - calm before the storm evidently (at least a lot of rain!).

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