Tornados & Bugs

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After all the preparation for our four month excursion to the Mid-West we are just about on our way; one last check through the house, the boat is hooked up to the truck, and it is full of gas. It looks like we are ready to see what new adventures lie ahead. May 18 is our departure date, and it proves to be a beautiful day, sunny, warm, but not too hot, and we left early enough that we practically have the road to ourselves.

As the day wears on the temperature rises and by the time we reach Gila Bend, Arizona, it is over a 100 degrees. Our first night out will probably make the rest of our trip seem like a dream. We pulled into a new RV Park, the tires crunching over the gravel, no grass and there are only small trees, which means there will be no shade to evade the heat. We sat in the shade of the boat waiting for the sunset thinking it would cool down, but that wouldn’t happen until the wee hours of the morning. The sun finally went down, even though it was still not cool, but I am tired and decide to get ready for bed. Boris is sitting outside and I am preparing the boat, covering the windows for privacy and putting on my PJs. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move on the floor to my right and when I turned my head I saw this two inch cockroach; black body, dark brown wings, long antennas and he was very fast on his feet. This big guy was a sight to behold. Immediately I screamed for Boris and soon the bug and I are dancing in a area nine feet long and two feet wide. I am barefoot and do not want to step on him and he is darting around for his life wanting me not to step on him too. Boris arrives and realizes that the bug spray is in the back of the truck, so he has to climb down the ladder, run the to truck, open up the hatch and locate the bug spray. Meanwhile, I found a shoe and gave this guy a good whack. He proceeded to shake himself off, get up, and crawl under the rug. Great, now I am worried that I will lose this guy and he will be running around loose in the boat, so my eyes are glued to the floor. Of course, I am still screaming at the top of my lungs for Boris to hurry. Pretty soon the bug peeks his head out and starts scurrying all over the rug again. So while I am yelling I grab another shoe, whack him several times, for insurance, and Boris comes clambering up into the boat with the bug spray in hand, but the bug is dead, we think anyway and he throws it outside. Both of us were shocked at the size, never having seen one so big and decided he must have flown in because we had bombed the boat for bugs before we left home. Boris said he had gone to a live insect exhibit in Washington DC where he saw Giant Asian Cockroaches and this one was much bigger than any of those. Great, now I am ready for bed, my adrenaline is pumping, it is still stinking hot and I am wondering what bugs are in the boat that we did not see. There wasn’t any sleep for several hours.

Staying in a location that would reach over 100 degrees again was not appealing, so we were up way too early for me considering last night’s sleep, or lack of sleep. As we travel east, it is more desert, but as we get into New Mexico it does seem to be a little bit greener. Of course it is still May. The truck is in need of gasoline, so we stop at a station in the middle of nowhere where there were miles and miles of pecan tree orchards and as we pulled into the station I was surprised to see all the grasshoppers, mostly dead because they had been run over, but there were many alive, the ones that were smart enough to stand off to the side.

Around 4:00 p.m. we stopped in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at a KOA for the night. After the previous night’s experience, this was heaven. This KOA was located up on a bluff with a view of the entire city of Las Cruces laid out in front of us with the valley below and the Organ Mountains raising up on the opposite side of the valley. As evening came the thunderclouds built up on the backside of the Organ Mountains, outlining them beautifully. As dusk turned to night the lights of the city looked like we were gazing at the stars above us. But the best part of all was the lovely cool breeze coming in through the front hatch that made sleep heavenly.

Sunday was a down day that we needed and we decided to stay in Las Cruces another day; where better than this beautiful location. As always it seems as soon as we leave home we start having trouble with the e-mail account, so Boris worked on that for a couple of hours. I am so grateful he takes on that chore. Las Cruses is an artist colony and we toured through Mesilla. On this Sunday the artists brought their wares out to the town square for display. Those town squares enclosed with grass and a gazebo in the center add such a sweet character to a town that we don’t see in Southern California often. Then it was back to the campsite for relaxing in the shade with a cool breeze, it was wonderful. I have to admit that we had several quizzical looks because we were using the boat as our travel trailer, but it usually was a great way to start a conversation.

Today was a travel day and our destination is Carlsbad, New Mexico. We needed to pass through El Paso, TX and while on the freeway we skirted the Rio Grande. There was Mexico, a stones throw away, you could see the dilapidated houses on the hillside and the difference in the lives on the two sides of the river is so blatantly clear. I don’t care how often I see it, the differences always seems to touch me deeply. As we leave El Paso we are driving down a two lane narrow road with the boat bouncing behind, looking at nothing, it was surprisingly flat and barren, except for the grass blowing. No wonder there were so many buffalos, there is a hell of a lot of grass there. We passed Carlsbad Caverns and pulled into Carlsbad, the city. The town is small and looked like a typical ranch town but also a little depressed. After we got the boat settled into another RV Park we decide to explore this small town. We wound up at a large park by the Pecos River, a tributary to the Rio Grande. This turned out to be a Norman Rockwell moment. There was a small man-made island with a bridge connecting the park to the island of which they had built two cement strips around this small island to step into the water and the locals were using these waters to cool off. There were a couple of teenage girls out by a swim platform in the middle of the river enjoying their privacy and sharing secrets. On a small sand strip on the mainland there where little ones busy burying each other with sand along with a launch ramp with small slips, maybe ten feet long. A small pier jetted out from the shore with peddle boats to rent and you could see that the pier was freshly painted and had a café and they were ready for Memorial Day Weekend to start, the time when summer begins. There were many families in the park enjoying the warm weather. It gave me a different sense of this small town out in the middle of nowhere, I realized that their town was not depressed but that this was the lifestyle they enjoyed in this neck of the woods. The weather cooled off after the sun went down and we had another good night sleep.

On Tuesday we visited Carlsbad Caverns, the second time for me and the first time for Boris. I was seven years old the first time I saw these caverns and was highly impressed then, so I was anxious to visit them again. The land was flat for miles around and then the Guadalupe Mountains raised up on the horizon and in the mist of these mountains lays the Carlsbad Caverns. When I was seven they told us that there was a river running through the caverns; now they discuss the uplifting of the mountains, fracturing of the ancient reef; yes, at one time this was an inland sea. As the water came in contact with the different elements in the ground, i.e., oil, gases, etc., it changed into sulfuric acid which carved out the passageways and large cathedral size rooms to form these amazing caverns. After the rooms were cleared out, the decorating began; stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, drapes, and pillars. The sights are breathtaking and all we can say is if you have not been there, seriously think about seeing what some consider the Eight Wonder of the World. It was amazing and we both enjoyed it immensely.

Chicago awaits us so it is time to get back on the road. In the morning it was foggy, so we think that maybe it will get cooler. Little did we know that it would bring us something much more than cooler temperatures. In front of us lies the Texas Panhandle and we drove most of the day wanting to get through Texas and into Oklahoma. Nature had something else in mind for us. As we drove through Amarillo, Texas, we heard over the car radio that there was a tornado warning in the counties just north of us. They kept repeating this message and since we were driving faster than this front was moving, we decided it was probably time to get off the freeway and into an RV Park and hunker down for the night. The wind was wild, blowing like crazy. The sky was gray and ominous looking. This was getting to be scary for me anyway, Boris seem to be taking it in stride. The park people told us that if the siren were to go off, we could run for shelter in the bathrooms. We listened to our weather radio on the boat and we were aware that these tornadoes were close. We were rocking and rolling from the wind and it was noisy but I have to say I was glad to be on land with this wind and not anchored out somewhere hoping that the anchor would hold.

In the early hours of the morning we had some heavy rain. At least we didn’t end up swinging in some tornado with the truck and boat still hitched, swirling around each other. The weather cooled down, thank heavens. We finally made it to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the night.

The humidity and heat have returned but the scenery is greener with hills and clumps of trees. As we head north to Chicago more farmland appears and we finally arrive in Naperville/Chicago to Rachel and Jack’s at 2:30 in the afternoon. The heat and humidity would stay with us the entire visit.

Spending the time with our two grandchildren, Jonathan and Kate, was sweet. Having the time to see their daily routines and spending alone time with them was terrific.

While in Arizona we started reading about the Cicadas, bugs, that hatch every seventeen years in the Mid-West and lucky us, this was going to be the magical year. Great! These are bugs that have been incubating under the ground for seventeen years and this year they were getting ready to make their debut in the millions. They talked about them, wrote about them, had discussions about them on the TV – they seemed to be everywhere except in our presence, at this point anyway. The thought of all these bugs flying around, frantically trying to find their soul mate, since they only live a couple of months, was not a thrilling thought. We kept hearing about them but still had not caught a glimpse of these little creatures. On one of the days with Jonathan and Kate, we took them to the Zoo. The Cicadas had arrived!! Turns out they molt from their shell that they have been in for seventeen years and were ready to spread their wings. They were not nearly as big as I had made them out to be in my head and they really just hung around the tree where they had dropped from in the first place. Oh, I forgot to mention that they make an extremely loud chattering noise and of course when you get thousands of them together, it is quite loud. The boys touring the zoo, there were 120 school buses to share this day with us, so there were plenty of boys, seemed to be much more interested in the cicadas shells and the squashed cicadas on the ground. Thank heavens it was quite anti-climatic. So for Jonathan who stopped often to exam yet another cicada shell, we finally put one in his sandwich bag, minus the sandwich, so that he could take it home to show Mom & Dad. After that we were able to get back to the business of seeing the animals in the zoo.

Jonathan and Kate were excited about the boat being parked in front of their house, as we had daily playtime inside the boat, going out through the front hatch and capturing pirate ships while playing on the bow of the boat. Jonathan though could hardly wait to get the boat in the water, he would ask everyday when the boat would be in the water. The day finally came and Rachel, Jonathan, and Kate watched us launch the boat in a small public launch ramp on Cal-Sag Channel. The marina was down the river a few miles, so Rachel, Jonathan, and Kate rode with Grandpa to the marina. When I arrived with the van at the marina, it reminded me of a bayou in Louisiana; overgrown with trees, hot, humid, loud music, brown murky water, and an old rickety dock with four inch metal pipe holding it up and many of the pipes had rusted off just above the height of the wood on the docks. The fingers on the dock was made with narrow wood strips and about twenty-four inches wide. The kids were loving this new adventure. There were tall looming trees at the marina and shorter trees that bordered both sides of the river. The marina had a bar outside, right up against the river with tables you could set and drink or eat. There was also an inside bar and restaurant. The music was blaring, people were laughing, boats were busy being launched by a forklift and it appeared to be a happening place and we found out a lot more happening than we would have liked. The clientele was both black and white, having a good old time.

The following day we took Rachel, Jack, Jonathan, Kate, and Carolyn, Jack’s mother, for a boat ride on the Cal-Sag Channel and our hope was to get into Chicago but we actually only made it to the Chicago Sanitary Canal. Because of time, we needed to turn around and head back. While on the Channel the chirping of the cicadas was deafening, the noise would seem to come in wave. The boat pulled into the slip around 5:00 p.m. and we decided to have a bit to eat at the restaurant. There were some tables kind of by themselves, but the speakers were turned up so loud that we could hardly talk, and of course the music was hip-hop, something right up our alley. There was much more to come as the evening wore on.

Carolyn and Jack left and Rachel, Jonathan, Kate, Boris and myself were going to say on the boat for the night. Boris and I started to prepare the boat for the five us sleeping on-board. We were prepared, at least we thought we were. Boris enclosed the cockpit with our canvas camperback. We bought a double size blow up mattress that we could use when we had guests. Boris turned to me and asked, “Do we have four “D” size batteries?” I said, “No.” Obviously one of the details neither one of us checked out before we left home. We were now on to plan “B” because the air pump needed four batteries to work and we figured we could not blow it up ourselves. The day had been long and we were ready for bed by 8:30 and settled in our respective spots. At 9:00 p.m. the band started with their speakers pointing in our direction. It was still hot and muggy, so we left the windows open for as long as we could stand the music. The boat on the other side was playing their own CD loud enough for all to share. So the windows opened and closed for awhile depending on how long we could stand the heat or the music. A thunderstorm gave us a light show with lightening and thunder; this is between the moments of sleep. The band stopped at midnight and the party then moved to the boat on the other side of us. They talked until the sun rose discussing if they should or should not turn on the motor. Then at 5:30 a.m. there was a roar of boats that went by that were in a bass tournament that day and their wakes kept our boat rocking and rolling for quite some time. I was grateful to finally get up. Of course, Boris got to sleep in the cockpit and got the best of all this.

The morning was lovely as Boris, Rachel and I sat in the cockpit with our coffee, still in our PJs, and discussing life. Jonathan and Kate were discovering new games they could play at the table or were reading books in the V-berth, keeping themselves quite entertained. All the kids love the V-berth, it is like their own private secret place to play. As we helped them take their camping gear to the car we saw a snake swimming by, close to the riverbank. There is always something a little creepy about seeing a snake swimming in the water. There was a whole group of them under a wharf at the marina.

Boris and I pulled the boat out of the water and were once again parked in front of Rachel and Jack’s. The next day we left and headed towards Minnesota. We had a great visit and it was wonderful to be able to spend that amount of time there with them.

Driving through Wisconsin was beautiful with its rolling green hills, farms carved out of the dense trees and overhead gray and white clouds giving us rain every so often. It is much cooler and the humidity is lower. You can see the corn starting to come up as you drive by the many different farms.

Another KOA right by the freeway just before we got to Minnesota. It was cold when we woke up, cold enough to turn on the heater. Hallelujah! Now all we had to do was find the heater.

We left Wisconsin, crossed over the Mississippi, and entered Minnesota. What beautiful country. So green and lush, but Boris is dieing from allergies. I have never seen him be so miserable. His eyes look like two red sockets in his head and he can’t seem to find any medication for relief. He can hardly wait to get this boat back into the water and away from some of the pollen.

For the next few days we decide to have a couple of down days and park the boat in a lovely RV Park right across the street from the Mississippi. The only problem is that the park felt like “Twilight Zone”. There were many trailers parked in the RV Park, but no one in them. We only saw four or five other people, but it felt like there should have been a bee hive of activity with all these trailers. The weather is interesting because there is weather here – we really have no weather in Southern California. In the morning the sun was out and quite beautiful and as the day wore on the sky became grayer and darker. Soon a thunderstorm blew through and it rained like we do not see in California; it just poured.

The weather has turned warm and humid again. We are in the first week of June and everyone says, “This is unusual weather”. This is the cry we hear no matter where we have traveled over the years, but I have to say that I agree with them this time, the weather has been way to warm for May and June, the mid 80s and quite humid.

It was time to move on and visit some of my cousins in Rushford, Minnesota, that I have not seen for forty-eight years. The day is beautiful, but warm and humid, the land green and lush. They had predicated severe weather today. It was around noon when we got the boat situated in the little RV Park that the city runs; it has four spaces with restrooms and showers. Roger, my cousin that I have not seen in forty-eight years, stops by during his lunch hour and it is great to see him. He crawls up into the boat and we visit for quite sometime. Before he leaves he mentions that there is a tornado watch in effect. We said, “Oh really. Great.” We could certainly see the weather changing, getting grayer and darker. Boris dove into the V-berth for a nap and I am sitting by the table watching the weather, with the boat radio weather station on, listening to the severe weather and tornado watch where we are located. I could see the line of gray dark clouds encroach on the blue sky above me and inch its way across the sky and over the hilltop just to the left of us. It started raining, then pouring, then hailing, and I could see lightening and hear the thunder crack overhead. I was definitely getting nervous and then the air raid siren went off, which means that a tornado has been sighted. I yelled at Boris to get up because we had to head for the cement showers located in the park and get out of this boat. As we ran across the lawn the rain was coming down in buckets and hailing. We were soaked when we reached the showers with my heart pounding like crazy. Boris is much better at taking these types of things in his stride. After about a half an hour and with us continually peeking outside to see if we could see anything, the rain stopped and the sun came out again. I am sure it is no big deal to those who live here, but for us it was another adventure on this journey.

The following day Roger gave us a tour of Rushford; a small, clean, picturesque town and a joy for me to see again the town where my father lived as a boy. This is also near from where Boris’ kids grandparents come, obviously a good place to have your roots.

After several days of catching up and having fun with my cousins it was time to continue our journey. Boris was a trouper and stuck out several days of being miserable with his allergies. It is gorgeous in Rushford but definitely not a place where he could live.

Our next stop is the Upper Peninsula in Michigan on Lake Superior.