It was a dark and stormy night...how many ghost stories begin that way? Well, we should have known that something was up, when we drove up to the lodge for supper on Monday evening, and remarked to each other how dark it was under the pines, at 6 p.m.
The lodge was fairly busy, not bustling, and we were handed menus and waters with lemon. The lights flickered, and we laughed as the non-park folks looked worried. They flickered several times again, with thirty seconds or so of darkness in between flicks. The wait staff went from table to table, lighting the candles in the table centers, "just in case," they said. The wind picked up, pine branches swayed, and the downpour began. No big deal, we knew that a storm was expected due to the mid-90's temperatures and awful humidity level that day. Suddenly, the log walled room went totally dark, and stayed that way. Sound effects from outside sounded scary. Fran, from the gift shop across the way, ran in, and acted pretty spooked. The manager came into the dining room saying that everyone was to grab their candle and follow her, to the basement. Most of the folks had just been served their meals, right before the lights went out, but we hadn't ordered yet, due to the distracted waitresses. We headed
out, rather than
down, back to the RV and the corgi kids. It was at the storms peak. Nuts, right? Jim ran to get the car, swung around to the front curved drive, got me, and in the deluge, we saw that a huge tree blocked the road totally. We backed up, heading to the park office to check on Lyle, last seen ten minutes earlier, mowing down by the permit station. He was safe inside the work room, dressed head to toe in yellow rain gear, ready for action. Branches thumped on top of the Tracker's rooftop, and we winced, thinking we were lucky it didn't hit the
windshield instead, and hoping the dent on top wouldn't be too bad. We spotted another big tree broken down by the winds (up to 80 miles an hour we heard later) as Jim shifted down to 4-wheel drive to pass the tree in the rain soaked lawn area. He zipped to and fro dodging branches, crossed the fast moving, swollen ford, and up the hill to Cedar Ridge where the RV and doggies were. Dropping me off, he moved on to tell the tenters to get up to the shower building for safety. The storm was absolutely wild by then. I knew the dogs wouldn't go out in it so elected to stay put and watch the storm's progress on TV, and pray. The RV weighs about 25,000 pounds. I did close the blinds in case something popped through windows. Rockford's station said that we were under a tornado warning, but Ogle County was nearly out of the affected area, as the storm was a fast moving one. Poor Phil and Lyle, in the worst of it, got the big tractor out and chains, to pull away the broken trees from the roadways. Jim closed the fords, and opened up the emergency road...kicking branches and limbs out of the way, and dealing with a raccoon with attitude. Those poor guys were drenched, and lucky they didn't get their noggin's thumped. Rose stayed in their rig with Zoey, their schnauzer. The dogs stayed at my heels, as I moved around inside the rig; making supper, and praying for all out in that mess. The Winnebago hung in there, and our lights never flickered. The trees in the woods beside us, stood strong. Folks are still without power here and there. The laundromats are extra busy, and the street departments are out with trucks picking up debris, as are the rangers here in the park. They've been hauling truck loads of debris, the past two days back to the dump. They always have a terrific, unbelievably huge bonfire late in the summer. I think it can be seen from the moon. Now, the park is quiet, with clear running creeks dotted with neon colored dragonflies, and prairie wildflowers in full bloom. Butterflies, and hummingbirds surround the blooms of the orange wild columbine, bush sunflowers, and cornflower blue spiky wildflowers. ( I wish I knew all their names for the midwest region.) Nature is happy again.....that is until the weekend!
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