Something About Sunday

July 13, 2009
What is it about Sunday? Last Sunday in Spokane we were awakened in the middle of the night by a thunderstorm and then kept awake by the heavy rain. This Sunday in Coeur d’Alene, same thing! It was pretty muggy and warm yesterday afternoon and the clouds were hanging around all day. But we saw no rain. The wind kicked up last evening--we watched it blow the tent sideways so that half of it was practically on the ground. It wasn’t until about 11 that the thunder and lightning began along with the rain. It was quite something from our vantage point inside the tent. The lightning was so bright and the thunder was cracking like the sound of tree limbs breaking. And it seemed like long thunder. The wind kept blowing and the rain started. It was over in about 45 minutes and we took the opportunity to run to the bathroom building. We dozed and then woke up again to more thunder, lightning, wind, and rain. Again it was pretty intense. I went back to sleep because it looked like the tent was holding up well. Then, a few hours later, I felt the icy plop of a raindrop on my face. It was raining again--no thunder or lightning, just steady, pretty heavy rain. And more rain. And then as a bonus, some more rain after that. The plops came faster. I put my pillows under the sleeping bag so they would stay dry. More plopping. Finally it was going on and on and there was more and more plopping, so we struggled into our shoes and got stuff transferred from the dripping tent to the back to the truck. We got everything in there except for the sleeping bags, which were already too wet to do anything with. There are a few puddles there in the tent. Then we piled into the truck ourselves. Eventually the rain stopped, I went and took a shower, and I found my clogs--I’d been walking around in my sandals without socks, since everything was going to get wet anyway. My toes were cold! That hot shower, a fresh pair of socks and some closed-toe shoes felt really good!
We read a little until we could leave for the library again. I love libraries anyway and this is a nice one. Plus, it’s more comfortable than all 3 of us being jammed into the truck! And it is looking like we may have to try and get some sleep in the truck tonight. The sky is one big grey abstract. Everything is misty. The rain picked up again as we were headed over here and it was coming down pretty good. No sign of sun. It really is quite beautiful with all of the trees and the lake and everything. But it’s looking like it might be too wet for us to sleep in the tent tonight, though if the rain stops for an extended period of time we may have a shot. Tomorrow we head for Butte. We’d thought about stopping in Missoula and contacted someone through the Directory for Traveling Friends, but never got a reply. Not getting a reply is becoming a common theme for us on this trip. Anyway, we decided to skip Missoula and go straight to Butte. I probably should look up the weather forecast for that area!
Just before we left the campground to come into town, we were eating our breakfast of Clif bars when Bill said, “Uh-oh, I just lost a tooth.” One of his caps fell off. He had a crummy dentist as a kid and he and his sisters have had teeth problems all their lives. So now there’s this. We are hoping that there is no pain to come. Right now, he is writing down the directions for how to fix this kind of problem yourself. There’s nothing wrong with the cap itself, just the cement wore away, so apparently you can get cement and engage in a little DIY dentistry! Who knew?