Missed the rain (yay!)

August 4 Birmingham, AL

I went to bed relatively early and slept pretty well, particularly considering I didn't have the air conditioning on and it was fairly warm--there was a nice "cool" breeze coming in the window by my pillow, and that helped. I did wake up earlier than usual--just before dawn, around 6am EDT, and it was 75 in and 73 out.

I knew it was supposed to storm and checked the radar, and saw a nasty storm north of Louisville. I did take my time getting ready and such, but it never really got light out and about 7:45 I not only saw the storm get closer on the radar, but I heard some far-off thunder. So I put it in gear and left by 8am.

Which is good, because Louisville got pasted. Six inches of rain in a little over an hour, roads flooded, cars floating around, the whole nine yards. I don't know if anything that bad happened where I was camped, but I'm glad I got out. I do wonder--at the same time I left, a huge motorhome towing a car left also, but went north into the storm instead of south away from it; I wonder how they did?

It stayed cloudy (but no rain) until I hit the KY/TN line, and then it got hot. Really hot. By the time I hit AL, it was in the 90's. I took it easy, driving a bit slower than I needed to, to make sure the tires didn't get too hot. My van air conditioning was a trooper, keeping the temperature in the back of the RV at about 80, which was quite satisfactory, for both me and the cats.

Other than the heat, and a huge mess of traffic through Birmingham (what the bloody hell is everyone doing on the road at 2pm on a Tuesday?), it was a much better day. I'm at a former KOA just south of Birmingham, in a fairly shady spot right by the pool and store and restroom. I don't know why it's a former KOA (the A-frame shape of the office is unmistakeable, not to mention the KOA logos that all have "Good Sam" stickers inexpertly covering them), but there are sure a bunch of people here long-term. Very long term, in at least one case: it takes a while for moss to grow on an RV. Maybe the head office didn't like that? Anyway, I don't have a problem. Everyone was nice, I traded in some books I've read for new ones, I went swimming, and I have TV for the first time since Wyoming. I made an omlette for dinner (cheese and salsa), and I have yet to decide if I'm going to keep the A/C on all night. It's really loud, but it does keep everything (relatively) comfortable (83 with no humidity is better than 95 with humidity), and outside it's still 80 degrees, even though it's almost 9pm.

It looks like I'll be back in Panama City tomorrow; I have a reservation at a campground out at the beach, and hopefully I can find a place to stay before we all get driven crazy by the noise of the A/C. I think the cats will be glad to stop moving around; they don't much like the moving part, and both are stressed: Nell has been beating up on Puck for no good reason, and as soon as Puck gets out of his kennel when we're stopped for the night, he goes to his scratching post and gives it hell!