Tag Archives: rain

photo of car and trailer in Palo Dura State Park

Packing in the Rain

Teardrop trail log: June 22

And the rain came…… Waking up to the pitter patter of little rain drops on the trailer, instills a sense of dread in even the most experienced teardrop camper. Visions of wet chairs, canopy and all the other equipment was enough to make me want to pull the covers up and go back to sleep.

On our inaugural outing with the Ambassador, we had a heavy rain shower on our very first night at Palo Duro State Park. From this experience, we had compiled a long list of lessons learned. The two plastic totes with fold-over lids I had used for condiments and larger items had filled with water on that first trip. The solution was to stack them and place a garbage bag over the top box. Garbage bags became the go-to-solution for wet gear of all descriptions as well as a preventative measure for a leaking water container on the floor inside the trailer. We have gotten better about stowing things in the hatch and under the trailer. Sigh – garbage bags in hand, it was time to dash, pack and move out!

The Storm

Storm Wall near Plains, Kansas

Storm Wall near Plains, Kansas

Jim, June 24:

We’re tooling along in Kansas, and travel was filled with the joys of using the old atlas and The Girl for navigation. Paper meets high tech. Hot, Sunny and miles of flat, straight road ahead. The only thing to break up the monotony was a construction zone with very aggressive rumble strips to slow down the traffic. Normally we wouldn’t have noticed. But then, passing cars and trucks began waving and gesturing to us. “Oh, look, more teardrop fans!”, “Isn’t it fun that we seem to be attracting attention with our cool trailer!?”

rear view galley lid check

rear view galley lid check

Then Marilyn looked into her rear view mirror and noticed that the galley hatch was up. Hmmm. Perhaps we’re not as cool as we thought. Everyone was trying to tell us about the lid. *quiet chagrin*. We stopped and corrected the problem, and it became her job to periodically check on the galley hatch.

I’ve been through Kansas many times, and it’s normally quite dull, so I wasn’t expecting what I saw next. Out my side window, was one of the blackest skies I’ve seen recently with the clear indication of a wall cloud. Severe Weather! In other circumstances, I might have just tried to outrun the coming storm, but we were towing a small, light-weight trailer. On it’s first trip. Although it looks airworthy, I didn’t really want to try it. We needed shelter! Plains, Kansas wasn’t too far, and we could see a large grain elevator. We drove into town, headed straight for the elevator, and hunkered down. We had enough cell service to use our iPhones, and Dark Skies and Weather Bug gave us radar views of the storm. We spent the next hour in torrents of rain and blustery winds, but fortunately nothing worse.

Holiday Inn, McPherson, Kansas

Holiday Inn, McPherson, Kansas

We decided we could make McPherson, Kansas that night, and after a near rain-out the night before, and a near miss by a violent storm, we were feeling a little moist and beleaguered. The McPherson Holiday Inn would be just fine.

… And the Rain Came.

Marilyn, June 24:

Camp Palo Duro in the Rain

Camp Palo Duro in the Rain

The sky turned from overcast to a full-fledged downpour as we finished breakfast under the canopy. Water started to collect and reshape the shelter. It was time to break camp and pack up as puddles collected around the campsite. Each time we pushed up on the canopy, large amounts of water ran off. We had to disassemble the kitchen as quickly as we could. Stashing the stove in the hatch. The two plastic totes with fold-over lids I had used for condiments and larger items had filled with water. We folded the wet chairs and forced them into stuff sacks. Wet items were thrust into garbage bags. As we loaded the trailer with all our wet gear, it became apparent that we needed a plan to deal with rain. We did our best to dry off and hopped in the Mazda to depart.