My Campout

I don't claim to be a great outdoorsman - or woman - better said. My idea of camping growing up was staying in a not so rustic cabin complete with stove, fridge, running water, and springy, though sleepable beds at Alturas Lake in the Sawtooth mountains with my parents and younger sister. It was asking a lot for me to pee in the middle of the night in a port-a-potty my parents had purchased rather than walk me out to the community bathrooms with flushing toilets.

The only part I don't enjoy about real camping is the poor nights sleep I tend to get sleeping on the hard ground. I love the sights, sounds, and smells, but let me enjoy them well rested. I love my bed, and very little can pull me away from it.

Three nights ago, I discovered another of those few things capable of such - Oklahoma spring weather. While at work, the announcer notified all that the hospital was under a severe weather watch. But when I walked out to my car that night, I laughed out loud as it was still, peaceful, and very dry. Now don't think I was complacent. One of my friends called to inform me that had the weather been 10 degrees hotter, it would have been the perfect climate for a tornado. So as I showered and thought I heard a freight train, I immediately shut off the water and with soap in my eyes strained to hear whether or not my ears had deceived me and realized what an inopportune time that would be for a tornado to arrive...it was only thunder *phew*

That night I went to bed with just a bit of thunder and a slight drizzle of rain outside my window. I awoke three hours later to Armaggedon. Hail the size of golf balls was smashing into my roof and windows. My metal gate was crashing against the chainlink fence and the thunder and lightning wasn't pausing long enough to even take a breath. I grabbed my little weather radio and ran to my closet. Imagine that - there was a warning out for hail the size of golf balls and a tornado warning which is a step down from a tornado watch.

No tornados. I can go back to bed...right? For a few minutes I lied there trying to ignore the hail that sounded like it had since broken through my roof and was filling my attic. Thank goodness I only rent, I thought as a side note. Had I been able to fall asleep, I may have dreamt I was a starlet on the red carpet with the frequency and intensity of the lightning flashes. "Seek a central room" the weather radio advised. Oh, but to leave my sweet bed! Then the thunder cracked right next to my head and without missing a beat, I was in my closet with a pillow and blanket.

First, I lied on my left side, then my right, then my back. Then I tried to bunch up my pillow. Then to my left side again. It was no use. Did I dare run to get my couch cushions? Then it all went quiet...uh-oh. I'm not a connoisseur of tornados, but that is never a good sign. I had to laugh at myself as I bolted to my living room through the flashing lights and then repeatedly tried to run through the door frame never making it through because of my load. Finally, I heaved two of the pillows over and got through with the third.

It ended up being quite a comfortable bed. So there I camped - just, me, my little bed, weather radio, cell phone, and thoughts of brown recluse spiders. Sleep came surprisingly quickly with the one ear plug I had with me, and I seemed to awaken just a short time later to my cell phone alarm reminding me that despite the night's escapades, I still had to work 12 hours that day.

Who ever would have though a closet would be such a great place to sleep. It was dark, warm, and quite cozy. Why had I never thought to do this during those long stretches of night shifts when I had to sleep during the day!?

At work, the only people who appeared to have the dark undereye circles I expected were myself and the doctors who commute in from other parts of the country. Apparently, to the locals, that storm was nothing, and every slept through it tornado sirens and all... When I recounted my experience, they all laughed and asked, "Where are you from?!"

"Idaho."