Wednesday and Thursday, April 27 and 28, 2011 – Three Rivers Lake

On Wednesday morning, the skies were overcast and we could tell by the tops of the trees that the wind was blowing stronger than yesterday. It rained off and on all day but there wasn’t a lot of lightning and thunder. We were very glad to have found this spot to spend a stormy day.

Wednesday night the weather front came through and the wind switched from south to north. We were awakened by the strong gusts and dropping temperatures. The Captain did not sleep well – he was up several times to make sure the anchor was holding and we were safe. The next morning we learned of the tragic storms and tornados that had killed over 200 people in Alabama only about 100 miles north and east of where we had spent the night.

We decided to stay put another day to let the river calm down a bit. We weren’t sure what we were going to encounter along the way, but with all the lives lost overnight, we didn’t feel good about leaving just yet. The day was a gorgeous one - so typical after a day of bad storms. All day long we watched the Coast Guard jets and other military transports fly overhead, presumably from Mobile to the tornado stricken areas. We offered up our thoughts and prayers for those families affected by the storms.