Diary for Harry and Judy's RV Trip


Day 61-The Mississippi Mini Tornado

2012-08-18

Day 61-August 18, 2012-To Hattiesburg, MS
Drove 271 miles in 5-1/2 hours to on I-20 to Jackson, MS, then route 49 south to Okatoma River Resort in Hattiesburg, MS.
I take it back, the roads in Louisiana are not the worst in the country, they are tied for the worst with Mississippi. Everything in the RV was on the floor when we finally stopped. We just got on the road when we saw a storm up ahead and in no time we were in the middle of a thunder, lightning and rain storm for over an hour. Could hardly see the traffic in front of us. Off and on rain the rest of the day until we got to about 45 miles from the campground and then it poured again, more thunder and lightning. We took the road the GPS told us to, not the one down the road a mile like the campground owner told us because we could barely see. This road was a tree lined, one lane, almost dirt path, and the wind picked up blowing the trees all around, the rain picked up and the thunder and lightning picked up. The owner of the campground talked us into the park by telephone, we could barely see. We just found a spot and parked ‘til it let up a bit (not a lot) then the owner came out and showed up where the site was. It was flooded, as was the whole campground. We sat in the car for another 45 minutes until it looked safe to get out. No sooner was Harry out of the truck (I was still in it) when the owner and the fire chief drove up to tell us that a tree had fallen on the road and taken out the power. The same road we were supposed to go on. A mini tornado had whipped through a 1,000 acre soybean field that was on both sides of the road and taken out a big oak tree. For once I was glad we listened to the GPS, or else we could have been in the middle of the tornado. At least it’s cooler so we don’t need the AC. If we stay another night, they’re going to comp us tickets to the fiddlin’ champ from Branson, MO who’s going to play here tomorrow night. It’s a really nice “resort”, a couple of lakes, a pool, clubhouse, cabins and a lot to do. The ducks seem to like all the puddles and the lakes. They come right up to the RV too, very friendly. I finished my book while we still had some daylight and then ate and took a walk around the campground, really nice from what we could see, a big rec hall with tables and chairs set up for the “concert” tomorrow night.
Power was supposed to be on by 8, (yeah, right) but at 10:30 we went to bed and at 11PM it came back on.