Not long after arriving back at our Barbarian Invader following our trip into Vicksburg yesterday, it started to rain. We turned on some local news and the Weather Channel to check out what was in store and almost wished we hadn’t. The weather maps depicted large, fast-moving radar representations of the oncoming weather and they were a variety of brilliant colors. We now know that dark green is merely hard rain, yellow is the violent thunderstorms and the various shades of red and almost purple are tornadoes. No sooner had we figured out what county we were currently camped in than a tornado warning came up that urged us to take shelter in a sturdy building. The only building that was any sturdier than our trailer was the RV park’s restroom and shower facility. Instead of spending a long time in the crapper, we hung on until we got more information about any actual tornadoes.
The rain ahead of the thunderstorms and while the storms passed over was delivered in a torrent, coughing up an inch and a half in about 40 minutes. There was a period of about an hour where the lightning was firing so often that it rarely went back to pitch black between strikes. The thunder was awe-inspiring; it sounded like the sky was being ripped in half. By the time I just about ready to clean out my trousers, we were able to get reception again and our tornado warning had been changed to 60 mph straight-line wind, hail and flash flood warnings. The weather stations this morning only confirmed a few tornadoes and none where we were but they also indicated flooding in Vicksburg. The temperature this morning (45 degrees) was 33 degrees below the temperature last night during our attempted drowning. I have never witnessed lightning of the proportions we saw last night. It was like being in a disco with a strobe operated by an amphetamine-crazed spastic.
There was a fine drizzle when I went out to make preparations for departure this morning. Not long afterward (I was in my usual attire of shorts and a T-shirt) the chilly weather had accelerated my efforts and we were out of the Rivertown RV Park and headed up US-61 toward I-20 before 10:30. We continued east through intermittent rain on I-20 to Jackson, the state capital, where we got off at the LaFleur’s Bluff State Park. After stupidly going to the listed address, we were told that the campground entrance cannot be accessed via the park entrance so we pulled a U and continued a bit further to the proper entrance. The campground is quite pretty, located on the periphery of a lake with lots of birds but no sewer hookups. We’ll be using the on-board waste system for a few days. It was a chilly 43 degrees with a light drizzle when we arrived; set up was pretty quick so I didn’t have to change my clothes.
Check out the picture of our neighbor. Click here