Way Too Close for Comfort


Thursday, June 6, 2019

Our experience this morning at Starbucks while using their WiFi to post yesterday’s blog should have been a warning to us of what today might bring.

I will try to keep this rant short.  Bloody computers!  Our tablet needed a Windows update, so we decided to let it do its thing before leaving Starbucks this morning.  A five minute delay would be no big deal.  Boy were we wrong.  I thought it odd that the message that appeared said “This could take a while, please do not turn off your computer”.  By now we were committed.  It shut down the computer and restarted it 4 times.  ‘Fifty’, yes, I said ‘fifty’, minutes later it completed the task.  Now anyone who knows me, knows that computers drive me crazy and too say the least that I lack patience.  Sue tried hard to distract me…how do you think that worked out?  Bloody computers!!!

We were not on the road until 10:00.  I was a little bit testy to say the least.  As I said before, the morning’s start should have forewarned us of more to come.  The skies were black as we left New Orleans behind.  Within a few minutes it started to rain.  Driving in the rain…no big deal…it is not like we were on our bikes.  Then we hit a wall of rainfall.  The windshield wipers were having a difficult time keeping up.  The sky began to turn a funny yellow colour that we often associate with the possibility of a tornado.  The wind picked up.  Sue’s phone made a strange series of noises that turned out to be a Louisiana Emergency Alert.  Tornadoes were a possibility.  If you spot funnel like clouds take appropriate action.  We pulled over, not knowing what appropriate action they might be referring to when driving down the highway.  We sat for 10 minutes while it poured rain.  The sky looked a little better and it let up, so we continued on.  10 minutes down the highway we came upon the path of the tornado.  3 houses were completely gone and a 4th appeared to have the roof of one of those houses siting on its roof.  Across the highway, a 2 ½  foot diameter tree was twisted off about 8 feet off the ground.  A 10 minute stop, and then 10 minutes down the road…you do the math…someone was on our side today!!!

Flooding in Southern Louisiana is a common occurrence.  After all, most of southern Louisiana is at sea level or below.  Heck the city of New Orleans is 6 feet below sea level.  Add the rainfall we experienced for about 30 minutes today and everything is under water.  Thousands and thousands of acres of sugar cane is swamped.  It looked like growing rice might have been a better idea.  The Mississippi River is already bursting at the seems with more to come from the north.  This water we saw today will not be going anywhere in a hurry.  Twice today we were detoured off the highway because of flooding.  We are lucky to be in Chitcot State Park on a beautiful campsite with no one else around.  Chitcot State Park is about halfway between Baton Rouge and the Texas border.  It is time to get the heck out of flood ravaged Louisiana.

Distance Traveled = 341 km.  Wildlife Sightings = Brown Thrasher, Mockingbird, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Anhinga, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Barn Swallow, Pileated Woodpecker, Cardinal.

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