Thursday, August 9, 2012

Diesel Prices and Thunderstorms


Atoka, Oklahoma
McGee Creek State Park
Weather Condition; High 106 Low 72, Sunny

It’s still HOT outside. We are being held hostage by this heat. We feed the dogs first thing in the morning and walk them before 8 A.M. Even at that time of the morning it’s in the 80’s already. We go for a short walk and the dogs tongues are dragging by the time we are finished.

The weather man mentioned that the temperatures may cool down to the high 90’s. That sounds like a real down to me at this point!

We haven’t done much of anything since we arrived here. The heat is part of the reason and the other part is the fact that this park is in a remote location. The nearest town is Atoka and it’s about 16 miles away.

We did go into Atoka yesterday morning to do some laundry and get a few groceries. While we were there we bought diesel too. We filled up our tank at $3.72 per gallon. That was as cheap as we could find it. As we were pulling out of the gas station the attendant was changing the fuel prices on the sign. New price $3.89. How on earth can diesel prices change so drastically in a matter of minutes? I will never understand how these big oil companies can get by with over charging us for fuel. I always love seeing the postings of the fuel companies quarterly profit reports. You already knew their reports would show their making huge profits!

Since I’m ranting, can I mention that some of the people that stay in campgrounds need some etiquette training. We love staying in state parks but we know if we stay in a park that has a lake then you can almost bet that the weekends are going to be loud!

During the week it’s been pretty quiet here until this week. They started pulling in yesterday afternoon. They pull in with trailers, boats and radios blaring. They unhook their boats and back in their trailers all the while their radios can be heard throughout the park. Once they have their boats in the water they turn on the radios in their boats. I like music but I try to keep it low enough not to bother others. I’m turning into a GROUCH!

Last night Dawn was preparing dinner about 6 P.M when the weatherman mentioned that there was a thunderstorm warning for the area. He went on to say that we could expect winds up to 70 mile an hour, hail and flash flooding.

I took a look at the radar on my phone and noticed this storm was heading right for us and was moving fairly quickly. I told Dawn she needed to wrap up what she was doing and prepare to go to the park shelter (restroom).  

While she finished up, I harnessed the dogs and loaded some items into the truck. Dawn then threw together a bag with bottled water, medications, flashlight and a few other items. The sky was getting darker by the minute. We grabbed the dogs and our bag and jumped into the truck just as the wind started to pick up.
The park ranger was making rounds notifying everyone about the weather.

We drove to the top of the hill and backed the truck up to the side of the restroom building and sat in the truck until the wind started blowing so hard that we decided to make a run for it. We weren’t in the restroom very long when the wind started bending the trees and the rain was coming down so hard you couldn’t see across the road.

The restroom is NOT air conditioned. There are a few vents located along the lower area of the wall. It was HOT in the building. I was able to use my phone to keep an eye on the radar. We spent an hour in the HOT restroom before we decided to make a run for the truck in the pouring rain. We were soaked by the time we got back in the truck. The wind had stopped but the rain was still coming down like crazy. The A/C in truck felt good. We remained in the truck for another 20 minutes before we decided to drive by the trailer and see how things looked.

The lightening was striking all around us so we decided not to get out of the truck. We drove around the park for another 20 minutes periodically checking the radar. Finally we could see light in the sky off in the distance and the radar showed the rough stuff was moving passed us. The rain slowed and we returned to the fiver. No damage was done but the ditches were running with water and there were a few limbs down.

Thank goodness the power was still on. We heated up our dinner and watch TV until bed time.

These storms do scare me. Not the rain as much as the HIGH winds and Lightening.