Addendum from Fort DeSoto

After a winter of stellar weather and very little rain the skies opened up in St. Petersburg the last couple days we were there we were hit with all the bad weather pent up for the past 4 months. On our last day, we were hungry for some activity. Don checked the hourly weather forecast on aol (second only to Tom Skilling for accuracy, right?) and decided it would not rain until 1 PM. So about 10:30 am we went out for about a 1 hour bike ride. (Kind of like the 3 hour cruise of Gilligans Island). When we arrived at the farthest most point on the island from our campsite, the sea was raging with the oncoming storm which had already left a lot of wind and tornado damage behind just to the north of us in the early am. It looked like dark skies were definitely headed our way, but Don kept reminding me it was not going to rain until 1:00. Well after we decided it might be coming a little sooner, we took off for home at the same time the wind kicked up and the torrential downpour started with a little hail thrown in for fun. The good news was that the wind was at our backs. As we approached the visitor center where we would have to turn into the wind, we decided to take shelter.

So we were welcomed in by the two rangers on duty and watched their computer radar until it looked like maybe the worst was passed. One of the rangers offered to throw our bikes into her truck and drive us back, but I am married to the nicest man in the world and he would never dream of putting them out like that and especially messing up her truck with our soaking wet clothes. We also remembered about now that we had left our windows open.

Well we needed to get moving so out into the tropical storm we ventured. Thank God there was no lightning threatening us at this time. The problem was that now the wind and rain were pelting us broadside and as we rode over a bridge crossing  a small inlet, I was praying that the sharks had enough sense to get in out of the rain before I was swept away into the ocean.

Unbelievably, we made it back that last mile with a lot of "Hail Marys" under my breath. We spent the next hour wringing ourselves out and mopping up our house. The storm continued with the same ferocity way past 1PM and into the night nonstop.