The written words in this entry come from an email that Ben sent to his supervisors and a few co-workers this morning:

Last night at 8:15 PM we had severely high winds, almost tornatic, that ripped through the RV park. Wind speeds were 40 to 50mph with gusts up to 60mph at times. After about 2-3 minutes of nonstop high winds that sounded like a train outside our RV, Michele, my cat, and I jumped in my truck and raced to the airport. The wind was so hard that it blew my mini-JOE box with all my tools out of the back of my truck onto the side of the road. I wanted to just leave it because I knew I couldn't lift it on my own, but Michele jumped out and did her best to help me throw the whole JOE box back in my truck. As the wind was whipping and branches were breaking off trees, I slammed my tail gate shut but it wouldn't close. I slammed it twice and finally got it shut. After a high speed drive to the airport we waited in the equipment room for about an hour. Finally, we headed back to the RV park to see what the damage was if any. I found that the reason my tail gate wouldn't shut was that my cell phone ripped out of my clip and lodged itself in the tail gate. In the midst of all the confusion I didn't realize that it did come loose. I thought my phone was dust, but the battery took all of the blow. Later I used Michele's extra battery and my phone that took that beating---well, it kept on ticking!!! When we got back to the RV the park it had been hit hard. There were two RVs that lost their awnings. One ripped out the screws from the legs that were attached to the side of the RV. The other awning tarp ripped in two and was thrown about 25 feet away from the RV.(even the entire roller bar was ripped off!) There were fallen trees and limbs everywhere, but the RV Welcome Center took it the worst. The high winds ripped off the roof of the RV center. My RV was fine thankfully. I guess it was "pointed" in the right direction!

Ben did an excellent job describing the events of last night. My photos should help to further illustrate the damage that was done.

And to think that my 5th wheel is constructed better than a building!

Thought Of The Day: "The world isn�t interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship." --Raul Armesto

Until next time... peace, love & HEALTH!!!