All in all I'd rather have fog...

… over a thunderstorm, I mean. Not that I would ever want to start out in either of them but you know the old expression S*** Happens!

As unbelievable as it sounds in the 3+ years we have been aboard we had not, until yesterday, experienced traveling in a thunderstorm; while at anchor yes but not while running. I would like to say that it has been good planning on our part but rather I think that we have enjoyed some fine luck and yesterday it ran out!

Unless you have been living in a cave you have probably heard on the media about the rains in the Southeast. It has been raining for 2 weeks now across Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. Aside from spoiling our plans to spend some nice September days hanging out in beautiful anchorages as we slowly made our way downriver we have experienced no real harm from the rain but it sure has been unpleasant. Mostly we have made our way from marina to marina (thankfully most of them had covered slips) on the good days (meaning it was only rain showers), and spent the worst days (monsoon type downpours & thunderstorms) sitting in those marinas listening to and watching the rain. Then we got in a hurry. Our budget had taken a bit of a hit from the unanticipated days in marinas and we knew we had some time at the marina at Joe Wheeler Park already paid for and waiting for us so we hurried along in spite of the forecast.

I mean it was only a 50% chance on Friday, not like 70% or anything! On top of that we set a very ambitious schedule of 100 miles and a lock for the day, meaning that we would not be off of the water early. We could have chosen a shorter travel day but we would have had to anchor overnight and the forecast for Saturday was for 90% chance so you can see our compulsion to move along. To compound things we got a bit of a late start because we had to wait for morning fog to burn off.

The day was going great; we got through the lock and were within 28 miles of our destination when things got ugly. As we were approaching Decatur, AL the sky took on a “rainy” sort of look but checking the radar we couldn’t see it, yet. We waited about 10 minutes for the railroad bridge to open and while waiting the sky began to look ominous, we listened to the NOAA forecast on the weather radio. Still they weren’t calling it. We cleared the bridge at 3:55 and continued on our way. At 4:00 NOAA sites a thunderstorm right where we were and issued a warning, a lot of good that did we could see the storm by that time. We were in a narrow channel and there was nothing to do but continue on, slowly. By 4:05 it was raining HARD and very windy; we couldn’t see a thing, just like when you are driving in a heavy rain – and then a big semi passes you. The waves popped right up to 1 ½ - 2 feet – on the river. Rain blew in through every little crack and I spent my time trying to stuff towels so that they would slow the water down and also wiping up to protect the electronics.

Thank goodness for radar and our navigation software that interfaces with our GPS to give us a picture and puts our little boat right on the chart. With these tools we can see the buoys and the other boats if there are any which, gratefully, there were not.

By 4:27 it was mostly over, the sky was lightening up ahead of us and the rain had slowed to a sprinkle and by 4:42 the sun was out again; nature’s fury was spent. Other than not being in such an all fired hurry and just spending a couple o’ more days at Goose Pond where we were quite comfortable there is not much we could have done to avoid this experience.

A couple of years ago we got caught in some sea fog out on the Georgia coast, I think I wrote about it in a travel update. After the storm yesterday I was thinking that the thunderstorm was much like the fog in that you can’t see anything which can be disorienting. But, in the fog you can hear because it is very still, whereas in a storm everything is making noise, the rain pounds, the waves pound or slosh, the thunder bumps and the boat. So all in all I think I prefer fog – today at least.