The Almost Perfect Storm! Kathy is close to being seasick; the rain is coming down in wild, windswept sheets; the waves are ferocious with swells of 10 ft or more; the sustained winds are 45-50 mph with gusts to 78 mph; the sporadic moving & swaying of this ship makes it difficult to stand still or walk & walking outside is next to impossible; the visibility is so bad, I can hardly see the land yacht across the way!
Who would have thought that such an ocean happening could be experienced on land? But it is so! We're currently camped at Newport, OR about 500 ft from the ocean with a great view of the angry sea. We were planning on continuing south on US-101 today, but when this fierce rainstorm moved in @ 4:50 am, we decided to ride out the storm right here. Fortunately, we retracted the slides last night in anticipation. I have never experienced a thing like this before. And I'm so glad we're not trying to drive; I think we would have been blown off the road.
The flag I was using as a wind direction indicator jutting up from a nearby condo suddenly disappeared; maybe the owner brought it down or it blew away. That same condo has (4) sky lights; (1) was covered with a blue tarp; I watched it loosen up & fly over the roof. Then the tar paper tore up to expose (4 or 5) boards over the sky light.
Behind us on the drivers’ side, a glass wind breaker for the patio camping site blew out & scattered small pieces of glass everywhere. .
The whole experience lasted over (9) hrs & was pretty exciting; we were happy to be inside & dry. Neither of us experienced anything like this, especially in a motor home. I was surprised that Kathy didn’t get sea sick from the many hrs of bus movement.
NOAA was a big help as we monitored the site on our laptop & had some idea of what to expect next.
I gave Ray a call in WA State to compare his storm stories with ours. He reports the whole area has been without electrical power since about 5:00am due to many trees blown down on electric lines.
@ 2:45pm the rain stopped, the wind subsided & I go outside to check the bus for any flying damage & the basement storage for any water leaks then report to Kathy: all is well & no leaks. Whew!
We didn’t get much accomplished today aside from being mesmerized by the storm. I did take some time out to plan for tomorrow pending the weather. NOAA has the rest of the week being rainy & windy.
Dinner: Fresh corn chowder with whole grain bread.
Zack returns our call from yesterday; we talk for over an hr about his current situation & future plans.
DVR movie: “A Woman’s face.” This was recorded early Sunday morning & the weather conditions (rain) must have blocked the last half; both audio & video was absent.
Today’s high=51 Lights out: 11:35pm
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