BehindTheLens

I just returned from a family vacation camping along the White river in northern Arkansas. The weather was cool, the water downright cold. And deep – very deep! Torrential spring rains filled the headwater lakes to within inches of cresting their dams, and our first campsite has a section wiped out from flash flooding back in March.

One other feature of this area is the lack of any form of electronic communications. This means very sketchy cell service, no TV, very limited radio reception and definitely no internet. Usually this would be nirvana for someone trying to get away from the constant barrage of e-mails and text messages. That is until one day….

We arrived back in camp after a family outing to Blanchard Springs caverns. A beautiful place to visit, I might add. Just about the time we were sitting down to enjoy dinner at the picnic table, we heard a rumbling off in the distance. A few minutes later the flash of lightning. We finished eating in a hurry, and quickly began stowing all our gear in the storage compartments of our travel trailer. In record time, I might add. Just in time for the bottom to drop out. Torrents of rain poured on our campsite. We heard something about a severe storm in our area, but did not have a good grasp if it was heading our way or moving to our north. And what about the river, just 50 feet from our campsite?

Everything ended up being OK, but there was a few tense moments that night. In the end we just watched the storm from the safety of our awning and enjoying the light show provided to us by Mother Nature. But if I only had a radar picture on the laptop…..

submitted by Mike Grimm