Sunday, March 26, 2017

Slept In, Another Free Dinner, Tornado Talk

Sunday, Mar. 26th in El Reno started out sunny with low lying clouds and 51F. It wasn’t long after I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 that the clouds soon took over the sky coming from the west. There were thunderstorms forecast for today with a 7 on the warning scale and that has been downgraded to a 6.


With plans to pull out and go into one of our AOR parks at $9/night, we need to wait until Monday so we can confirm our arrival date. I know that I dropped off to sleep last night as soon as my head the pillow. A couple of shots of Kahlua helped with that, I think, but I was awake at 1 for about an hour for some reason.
Wispy clouds early this morning

The young couple that pulled in beside us late yesterday were packing up this morning to move on so I went out and chatted for a bit. They are from Massachusetts and on a vacation trip so anxious to move on early. This is their first trip out, new to rv’ing so Bill was able to offer up a few welcomed tips.

We had coffee while reading posts and deciding what to do today. Bill walked over to the Casino to see if Security had done up the report on the fender bender. They do have one done up and have it available for our insurance company to access. We can get the process started today with an email at least.

We puttered around in the morning and finally around 11:30 decided to make some lunch. Got a niggling in my head telling me to take a nap so I’m going to do that. Apparently, that 8-hours sleep wasn’t enough. The sun is trying to come out but it hasn’t much of a chance with the cloud cover. It is 65F so warm and very windy again.

An hour later, Bill, Clemson and I rouse ourselves and lo and behold the clouds have been blown off to the horizon all around us. It is a very strong wind with gusts to 29 mph so instead of getting out there for a walk, I chose to stay inside. Too bad it is so windy since the temperature has climbed to 76F. I felt better, indeed grateful for the snooze, and read my book for a bit.

Their food was good and today I ate the whole thing
I took a few minutes to create another Excel document portraying the number of days we have spent in the United States in 2016 and the current year. Keeping track this way will aid us in filling out the 8840-form required to show stronger ties to Canada. All new things that we are learning to do in order to continue this winter adventure in future years.
I donated $2 here today
Bill showered and we both got cleaned up. As planned yesterday, we went back to the Casino for dinner, a little later today than yesterday but still earlier than our normal time. We sat at the same booth in the restaurant and Bill ordered a bacon burger and fries and I opted for the hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes. A Caesar salad was my included appetizer and it was big enough for us to share.
Clouds to the east, pretty but threatening
Bill walked away with $15 of his winnings left and we decided not to touch it. I didn’t feel I’d got my playing time in yesterday so I sat at a penny machine (big spender!) and played $2 until it ran out. I actually enjoyed that 15 minutes of fame and we soon walked back to the Suite.
The sun begins its slow descent

At 5:30 the sky above us is blue as blue can be and to the west there are big fluffy clouds, some darker than others looking like storm clouds. We pulled up the weather network on line to find that there are tornado sightings over the southeastern area of Oklahoma.

Looking at the radar map, we aren’t too concerned since it started at 4:10 and the watches are in play until 8 pm. It appears to be southeast of Oklahoma City and we can only hope the families there are okay. We are prepared here in our Suite and have our important things packed in our laptop bags in case we need to run to the sheltered casino.

What an uneasy feeling to watch a storm tracker out on the highway showing live footage of a tornado possibly touching down. We are approximately 30 miles west of Oklahoma City which is about 90 miles north of Ada where they are reporting 3 tornado touch downs.

The evening is drawing to a close and we are settled in for this lovely night here in El Reno. The sunset was a pretty one tonight and to the east, I am enthralled with the pink clouds on the horizon.

If you are in the south at all, I hope you are all safe and are keeping an eye on the storms.
Goodnight from the Casino lot


Thank you for reading along today. I love to hear your comments.

14 comments:

  1. Keep your Visas and other important documents with your computers in case you have to take shelter.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  2. The pictures you posted of the clouds are all so beautiful. Hoping and praying no tornadoes find you and you do not have to make the dash. Keep safe.

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    1. Thank you Deb the clouds were so pretty last night. No dash was necessary and I think the threats have passed. :)

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  3. We get used to watching the weather fronts, and like to be ready at a moments notice to evacuate. Nice to see you enjoying the casino life. Travel safe.

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    1. Thanks George, we kept an eye last night and relaxed when we saw it was to the south east. We had fun at the casino, win some lose some. :)

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  4. After leaving the Escapade in Tucson, we are somewhat following your path to our home in SE Kansas. Will be in OK City in a few days. Glad all is okay. Safe travels.

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    1. I've tracked down your blog and would like to follow your journey too. we seem to have a lot in common from the pictures you post. :) thank you for your comment. things seem to have settled down here.

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  5. Glad there were no tornadoes. You don't want to go through one of those. Instead you had a beautiful sunrise and sunset. Can't beat that. Sorry you lost your 200 pennies. At least Bill can pay the bills with his winnings.

    I'm an Excel nut. I have logged every penny I spend on these trips all four years I have traveled. Not really a budget, because I don't care what I spend (as long as it's not RV park fees), just kind of nice to know where the money goes.

    Safe travels.

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    1. thanks Doug, strong winds make me nervous. I can't imagine what a tornado would be like.
      I hope to keep up with the Excel program so I don't forget how to do things. Still just at basic level.

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  6. Great sky shots sis! I am not a fan of high winds, never have been so was glad to hear that they didn't get close to you.

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    1. thanks Donna. I do not like high winds either, storms otherwise don't scare me the same way. It is something we have to deal with coming down here. Soon out of danger.

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  7. And I thought I was the only one who used an Excel spreadsheet to track our time in the US 😊 Beautiful pictures of the sky but I sure hope the tornados don't come your way!

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    1. I'm just beginning with the spreadsheets, a friend does it too so thought it was a great idea for all of these reports.

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