And Then Came the Deluge!

I could use a clothes-line right about now!

Sunday evening, Aug. 5, 2018

We left Fenelon Place at about 5:30 pm, and headed for Walmart to do our next errand--purchase a new battery for the RV's "house" systems. I still thought that we could go back to the casino for the night, but it occurred to me that if the Walmart was RV friendly, staying there might be easier. But as we drove, it became the obvious choice, because the skies turned black, and opened up, and suddenly it was simply POURING. Pounding heavy rain, and winds blowing the water across the roads in front of us like rivers, and the wind blowing, and the visibility almost at ZERO. I had the thought that, this being Iowa, perhaps I should be listening to a weather station--I didn't know if there was something going on besides just a torrential thunderstorm (tornado, maybe?)

Thank goodness, we were not far from the Walmart, and we parked, quickly deciding to wait for the rain to let up before we even ATTEMPTED to go inside! I had realized that while Joe looked for a battery (which he was determined to install right then and there), I had the time to pick up the groceries which we needed (yes, i know we shopped 48 hours ago, but we had a list of things we'd forgotten!)

We waited for about 15 minutes until the rain had let up and was just a normal, light rain again. We also took out our weather radio, which we haven't had occasion to use in years, and turned it on to hear if there was anything we needed to know. But no, it was just a thunderstorm (with hail in some places!) after all. The good part, however, was that it had brought down the temperature outside quite a bit, making our prospects for a comfortable night much more likely. But just as we were getting ready to go into Walmart, we made a very unpleasant discovery.  The roof fan which is directly over our bed was leaking, and there was a large wet spot on our bedspread, and down through 3 layers of sheets to the foam mattress topper!

So we stripped the bed completely, and took stock. I was able to soak up the wetness from the foam, and we had a couple of spare sheets. However, I hung up the wet sheets in the bedroom, trying to get the cross breeze to dry them. Then we went in to shop. Joe found his battery, and asked the manager if we could stay overnight. She said yes and told us where to park. Then while I did the grocery shopping (and by the way, picked up a spare sheet to replace the wet ones), Joe went out and installed the new battery. He really IS amazing, and it works great.

Meanwhile, I was amazed to discover that a couple of the sheets I'd hung up felt dry. Joe had to lie down to rest after his battery install (he DOES strain himself too much, I'm afraid) and we had a few more "light" rains (some were not so light.) At which point, Joe casually says he's felt a few drops on him. When i checked, it was very wet on the bed again, next to where he was.

So I had to move the sheets yet again, and we had a discussion about what to do in the event of more heavy rain. In the end, we decided to prepare for it, even if it didn't happen. So I stood on the bed and covered the fan vent with a plastic bag and duct tape, so it wouldn't keep dripping on the bed. I also went outside and brought in a large bucket we have, which if the roof were leaking again, we could put onto the bed to catch the water. It makes it hard to SLEEP on the bed, but at least if the plastic doesn't hold, we have some way to avoid another thorough wetness. The main problem is drying things out! The sheets are large, and there's no clothesline or way to really hang anything large in here. Plus there are 2 people and a dog taking up a lot of space.

We'd also set our weather radio to give us an alarm if there IS some kind of weather emergency. And at 10:30 while I was writing this, it suddenly went off. The National Weather Service said there was another line of extreme thunderstorms heading for Dubuque. I had already been seeing a lot of lightening, so we battened down the hatches again. Sure enough, the line of storms went through, but the plastic on the ceiling seems to have held! So so far, so good.

And that's where we are now-- in the Walmart parking lot with dampish sheets, and a taped-up bedroom ceiling. Joey has fallen asleep regardless while I'm typing. If we have to, one of us could move to the couch to sleep, and make the table into a bed for the other one of us. But we do prefer to be in our own bed, that's for sure! Right now it is quiet and calm, and not raining. So let's hope we are lucky for the rest of the night!