Last night we heard on the radio that there was a tornado headed our way. I don't know what the best tornado preparation procedure is for people living in travel trailers. We put up our awning and I put anything small that might blow away into the van. We never even got any high winds. Just a lot of rain. But I was pretty nervous just the same.

Our neighbors didn't make any preparations for the storm, and this morning, when I looked out the back window of our trailer, I saw the equivalent of a large hot tub full of water in their awning, which was bowed almost to the ground. Earl, one of our neighbors in the New Hudson campground, told us that you have to put your awning up with one side hanging down lower than the other so water will run off of it. I've noticed that a lot of people don't do that.

When we were in the campground in New Hudson, a hot air balloon made a crash landing in the lake on the edge of the campground. The first landing put the basket into the water to a depth of about two feet. The balloon operator pulled the thingie for the gas jets and the balloon struggled to get about fifty or so feet into the air. Then it headed back for the water.

The balloon kept going up and down like that until the operator managed to get it to the shore of the lake, maybe fifteen minutes later. Then he made a perfect landing. We got most of it on videotape. If we had come home from dinner just a few minutes later, we would have missed it.

I've learned a lot about plumbing and sewage lines and tanks. Maybe I'll talk some more about those next time I post to this thread. The library is going to kick me off this computer in a few minutes.