Tales From The Travels

My wife and I went camping at Lake Texoma with our next door neighbors in June, 1989. I know the exact date: Saturday, June 10, 1989. The reason I can remember is that I know it was a Saturday and there was a big party of Iranians a couple of campsites away celebrating the news that Ayatollah Khomeini had just died.

Texoma is a giant reservoir on the Oklahoma-Texas border and has some great campsites and wonderful fishing. It is a very popular destination for watersports. This particular evening, we were looking forward to a quiet night of camping by the lake, and it started that way.

We set up camp and cooked dinner before walking down to the lake to watch the sunset. Before we headed back to the campsite I looked out west and admired the gigantic thunderstorm clouds towering above the horizon, still visible in the fading light. This is not an unusual sight in Texas at that time of year and I really didn’t think much of it. But, that storm was to become something monstrous.

Our neighbors had rented a half-cabin, one that was enclosed on three sides and screened in on the fourth, but we were in a tent. We brought our dog, Snowshoe, along with us, but the tent was large and there was plenty of room for the three of us. We went to bed after it got dark and were pretty comfortable. That is, until the storm hit.

The wind picked up and the tent was flapping around with the rain coming down in buckets and plenty of lightning and thunder. Poor Snowshoe was terrified. I just layed in my bed and listened to the storm. There wasn’t anything I could do about it, so I didn’t really worry. After a bit it died down and I went back to sleep.

Then the second wave hit. We went through all of the same routine with the lightning and thunder, and the rain and wind. I had set the tent up well, though, and it stayed up through this storm, as well. It also died out and we once again fell asleep.

Then, the third wave hit and this was a monster. The wind was ferocious and I thought the tent might rip. But, by this time the ground was soaked and the tent stakes couldn’t stay in the ground. First one, then another, of the stakes began to come out. The water was leaking in by this time and the tent began to flood. The waterproof bottom that was designed to keep water out was now keeping it in and we were soon sitting in several inches of water. I grabbed one of the tent poles as it was coming down to hold the top of the tent up while we got some clothes on and found the car keys. Then, we abandoned ship and ran through the howling, driving rainstorm for the car. We were soaked when we got in and started the engine to get warm. Snowshoe climbed in the back and went to sleep while my wife and I popped open a couple beers and laughed about our experience.

We saw our neighbors bail out of the cabin and get in their car, also. When the storm finally let up, we walked over and knocked on their window to see how they were doing. They were both white in the face. Turned out they were high and dry in the cabin, but were so terrified they ran out in the storm to get in their car. We were the ones that had our tent fall down on us, and they were the ones that were miserable.

I saw the news the next day and they reported on the storm. Turns out the winds exceeded hurricance strength and had blown a police patrol car off the road. They showed the weather radar and it looked like a hurricane had formed, centered right on Lake Texoma. I’ve always thought about those Iranians and wonder how many of them thought it was their fault and they were being punished for their celebration.