Beaches and Thunderstorms

It turns out that when you live in a van the local weather has a strong affect on what you do and where you go. Our plan was to spend the weekend in Florida at Pensacola Beach and Fr. Pickens State Park. We made it to the beach on Friday night, and got Vincent all set up and ready so that we could wake up and see a beautiful beach view in the morning! Then we went to sleep. Then we woke up around midnight with crazy intense thunderstorms all around us. Pretty much as far as we could see in every direction there was lightning strikes. I would estimate there were lightning flashes every 10-15 seconds consistently for about an hour. It was an amazing show! It also caused us to ponder our choice of parking spot. There aren't many tall things in that location, so we were one of the taller targets for a couple miles. That didn't increase our comfort level. We decided to reposition to a location near some buildings so they could absorb any lightning that headed our way. Then the storm could pass by and we could enjoy the beach in the morning! Which we did!

 
 

That wasn't the last we saw of Thunderstorms though...

Saturday morning we tried to go to Fort Pickens to check in, but sadly the thunderstorms the night before had caused flooding and it was closed, so we weren't able to stay there. Instead we went to the beach and played in the surf. It was definitely fun, and far warmer than the ocean water we are used to in Oregon! We could actually stay in the water for extended periods without getting cold! I did get sunburned (I used sunscreen, but apparently I needed to re-apply sooner) but not too badly. As we were getting towards the afternoon we checked the weather again. There was a severe thunderstorm warning for our area. There was a storm approaching that was reporting 2" sized hail. Not good for Vincent if that hail started falling!

So... the weather is trying to destroy Vincent, which is our home and livelihood... this isn't like any storm we had dealt with. We decided that we might want to move away from this thunderstormy area. But, if it started to hail before we could we had a plan. We would find an overpass, or church entryway, or gas station, or a self-car wash and park underneath until it passed. We were so ready! Thankfully we didn't have to deal with any hail, and we headed north to Dothan Alabama, away from the Thunderstorms!

Sunday in Dothan we went to the local water park "Water World"! It was fun, there is a wave pool and some slides, and we tried them all and had fun. Then we had lunch, watched some more thunderstorms pass us by, then headed back to the hotel for a relaxing evening and movie at a hotel (we splurged for Julie's birthday!) It was a good day.

And today we are heading to Uchee Pines Lifestyle Center to see Julie's brother and his family for a few days!

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