Saskia and Richard's RVing Adventures

Well, the second thunderstorm is underway.   We had one wave of quarter inch (1 cm) hailstones and poor Benny and the Jet were hammered.  Our newly purchased severe weather alert radio which we have renamed Squawk,   has advised us that we are on a tornado watch until 1.00 am, and finding the experience somewhat exhilarating and nerve-wracking at the same time. I have to admit we encountered a tornado warning in Arkansas once before a few years ago, on a previous trip to visit Richard’s brother and his mom Clarabel, whilst she was still alive.  Last time (fingers crossed as I say this) the epicentre of the tornado moved just about a mile north of the nursing home where Clarabel was living.  Clarabel and all her fellow residents spent the night in their beds or in their armchairs which had to be moved into the corridors for safety.  I spent a nervous night listening to thunder and lightning that sounded as it if rolling around directly above my bed...

I am listening to our latest purchase, a raucous severe weather warning radio that makes you jump when it goes off.  Currently there is a severe thunderstorm/tornado warning over Mount Magazine, an area where we spent five days just a few days ago.  We are now 100 miles south of the affected area, but the skies surrounding Benny and the Jet, our intrepid but very unprotected truck and trailer, are dark and ominous and I can hear thunder in the distance. Arkansas is prone to severe weather.  It lies in “tornado alley”, and we had already encountered heavy rain and a tornado warning when we were spending a few days with Richard’s brother Don about 10 miles north of Texarkana – if you are of a certain age you might recognise that particular town name from a famous “Cotton Fields” hit by the Beach Boys! However, the diversity of what I have seen in the past two weeks makes this a place you have to visit.  Since beginning to write this, the severe weather war...