January 31, 2013 – Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida

So, as I left the last blog post, Choppy and I were trying to figure out the rather conflicting messages of the campground host as to whether to prepare for a giant storm by battening down the hatches, or to prepare to evacuate the campsite (with everything very unbattened down and in the car).

Things only got worse from there.

After surviving a windy but warm night, thankful for the extra powerful stakes I purchased at a seemingly outrageous price that turned out to be worth every penny when they kept both my regular and tailgating tents from blowing away, I awoke to the day the entire campground had been anticipating: storm day!

It was 75, sunny and only a few stray white clouds in the sky, at 8 in the morning. Not exactly the sort of day anyone had been anticipating, though in a great way.

A look at the weather radar showed the impending storm was coming, just slower than expected and, quite likely, the brunt of the storm passing north of our campground.

A couple hours later, it was overcast and shortly thereafter raining. The campground host came by (still without beer or good tidings), and informed me that the campground was under an imminent potential evacuation, and I should pack up anything that I wanted to take with me, with the expectation that it would be a day or two before I could get back. He would be back by noon with the final word.

Immediately, I decided to pack only the important things (my clothing and makeup), leaving the tents behind, as the previous night indicated they could stand a lot of bad weather. A break in the storm meant I got everything to the car without getting wet, which definitely made me happy, and also made me wonder why we were under this potential evacuation order, if we were just getting a few sprinkles.

And then, the sun came out again. The campground host came back, and informed everyone that there would be no evacuation order. Looking at the skies, it seemed pretty clear that there was no need for an evacuation.

Approximately ten minutes later, the skies opened up.

Red FlaggedThis? This is the red flag after the evacuation order was lifted.

In terms of rain, it really wasn’t that bad. I took the rain as an opportunity to head into town and run a few errands; by the time I came back, the temperature had dropped 20 degrees (with no end in sight), the road to the campground was covered in water, and the winds were at a level that made the night before look like child’s play.

To say the night was an unpleasant night to be camping would be an understatement.

It wasn’t the windiest night I have ever spent camping. Nor was it the coldest night I have ever spent camping. Nor was it the wettest night I have ever spent camping.

But it was darn close on all three counts.

Choppy stared at me for hours as the wind whipped the tent noisily around us, as if she was wondering what I had gotten her into, and why she had willingly followed me into it. I didn’t blame her one iota.

Sometime after midnight, the wind died down enough that the tent stopped whipping and I drifted off to sleep, though I kept waking up when I tossed off a bit of sleeping bag and my brain woke me up to avoid the frostbite danger from a suddenly exposed finger or nose. The rain showers would come and go, a reminder that, even though it was close, it still wasn’t below 32 and therefore snowing instead of raining.

Happily, it has warmed up again, though (unfortunately) not to pre-storm levels. And the night is more or less windless, with a 0% chance of rain. I am thrilled with this, however.

And hoping last night was the worst camping night of the trip.