Sojourning Pilgrim

Stopping before you run into the tornado

Thursday is supposed to be my day off. That hasn't happened with any regularity for quite some time now, but yesterday, I'd had enough, called one of my friends, and we left town at 5:00 pm, boat in tow. A quick stop for barbeque, another stop for minnows, and we were on the water @ 6.

On the way, my friend pointed out the farm residence of one of his friends/fellow employees. Aptly named "Fat Boy Drive." I'd seen it before, and had already made a mental note of his location. I casually know his friend.

Set out six jug lines, and then started looking for the fish. There were a few clouds to our north. We didn't have any luck finding the fish from a trolling perspective, so we headed to the west end of the lake to cast our luck against the shore. Nothing. Peter and crew would have chuckled. We kept looking for Jesus, to tell us where to drop our worm, but to no avail. The clouds are growing.

It was approaching 8:00, and we'd had enough of messing around. So, we headed for the dam. I looked up, and the clouds were starting to look like the night before - billowing, but from the underside - like they were filling up with moisture - fast!!! Still, there were fish to catch . . .

We worked the dam for about 30 minutes, and I caught my first fish. Bream - not bad. Sometimes on this lake, you can catch 15 - 20 of these tasty little things when they start biting, and when you know what they are biting on. So we kept it, and still, the clouds were building. Now a thunder clap, and lightening in the distance. But it was in the distance . . .

On the next thunder clap, the only other boat on the lake packed up, and headed for shore, in a hurry. We fished about 5 more minutes, then pulled the jug lines, and headed in. It was nine, and things looked dicey back toward our home town. We threw the lone catch back for another day.

We noticed the wind right away. Decision time - north or east - which would provide the calmer travel. We opted for the east, which, by the way, would take us past Fat Boy Drive.

The problem with the eastern route was that the wind was out of the north, and it was blowing the boat a good bit. Then the rain started. We're out in the middle of nowhere - 11 miles until we turn north. We start noticing some leaves and small limbs in the road every now and then . . .

We turned north. Slowed to 30 mph, and the wipers are on full. I can still see about 75 yards in front of the truck, especially when the lightening illumines things. No problem with encountering other travelers . . . We're seeing more limbs, and then the occasional part of a tree.

So, we opted for a visit at Fat Boy Drive. They were home - the light on the front porch came on. Their satellite had gone out, so no TV, but the radio told them that there were reports of a tornado, roughly 5 miles north of them.

We stayed about 10 minutes - long enough to let the tornado get out of the way. It had already done its damage in front of us - we had to weave around many a tree for the next 10 miles or so.

The lesson - always stop at Fat Boy Drive before you run into the tornado. Life's just easier that way.

And again, God is great, Sabu!!

posted by the sojourning pilgrim @ 8:08 AM