Gone with the wind

Sunday, March 4, 2012 MARATHON, FL – The heat and humidity yesterday was such that we decided to run the air conditioner all night, just so we could get a comfortable sleep. I guess it was the precursor to what we experienced today: a tropical wind storm of considerable force that seemed to blow in out of nowhere. The morning started off quietly enough. It was still warm and humid when I set off for church. On my way, I warmed up my voice by singing an old favourite hymn. To my delight and surprise, that was the very one we sang at the end of the service! Nice! When I got back, the wind had picked up, so after I got changed I thought it would be wise to put away the lawn chairs before they got knocked over. When I went to open the door of the RV, it was practically ripped from my hand by a fierce gust of wind! I barely kept the door from banging against its hinges, and already one of the chairs was skidding away from the concrete pad. Val came out and helped me get them folded and stowed. With the rear end of the RV so close to the water and now-crashing waves, we thought it best not to put the chairs under there (no way were we going to attempt to open a storage door), so we stashed them under the car nearer the road. With the wind whipping our hair and flapping our clothes, we worked our way back to the RV door. Then Val muscled the door open just wide enough for me to get in, and hopped in himself before pulling with all his might to get it closed. For the remainder of the afternoon, we stayed inside, listening to the wind howl. The RV shuddered and rocked and great splashes of rain and wind lashed against the windows. Our radio was set to receive weather warnings automatically, and sure enough, the weather band came on with warnings for boaters to get below and make sure all aboard had life jackets on. It predicted blinding rain and winds gusting to more than 35 knots. It was fascinating to sit at the window and watch the white caps crash against the sea wall behind us and burst into white plumes of foam. Amazingly, we saw a few birds out above the waves, with wings outstretched, buffeted by the currents of air. And sadly, I saw in the water a large dead bird, bobbing in the waves and carried in to shore. The storm had been just too much for the poor thing. We had made plans to do some more exploring this afternoon, but they went by the wayside. Instead, we read, did crossword puzzles, napped (or tried to) and read up on what we might do tomorrow. By late afternoon, the wind had died down enough for us to venture out briefly and see what, if any, damage had occurred. I was surprised not to see much; there were mounds of churned-up seaweed on the boat ramp, and palm branches that had been ripped off a few trees, but the campground and its residents seemed to have weathered everything quite well. Even now the wind is still billowing away, but at a diminished rate. It gave us a better understanding of what it must feel like when a hurricane comes through. I don’t think I’ll ever watch a TV report about US hurricanes with quite the same detachment as before.