Author’s Note:

I never know what story will bubble up next, but when one does, I follow it. Fitzgerald once said, “You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” Well… this one had plenty to say.

Here’s the true tale of how a quiet holiday weekend in 2000 turned into an unexpected adventure involving SPAM, bratwurst, and a tornado.

July 4^th, 2000

(or how I spent my summer vacation!)

The July 4^th holiday of 2000 will never be forgotten.  It started with a great weather forecast.  There was no rain in the forecast for the entire weekend and none was predicted into the beginning of the following week.  As was our usual practice before a camping trip, my wife Maggie and I picked up the camper from the storage lot two days before the actual trip, Tuesday, June 27^th.  We hooked the camper up to our Suburban and we towed it home in record time. 

We parked the camper and Suburban on the road rather than parking in our driveway as was our usual practice where we would unhook the camper from the Suburban and then park the Suburban in the garage.  By parking the trailer in the road we figured we would save a few moments the night of the 29^th when we would be towing the camper out to the campground fifteen miles from home.  Little did we figure on the events to follow.

We began loading the camper with items for the trip on Wednesday evening.  On Thursday, Maggie followed me in her car as I towed the trailer to Cliffside Park in Racine.  We were able to get to the campsite in about 30 minutes.  We had the camper set on the levelers and both the electrical and the water hook ups were complete and ready for use within another 15 to 20 minutes. 

Maggie went home after we finished the difficult task of leveling the trailer.  I stayed behind to get the supplies inside of the trailer put away for the coming weekend.  I would then get up early the next morning and drive home to pick Maggie up for work.  By doing this, all Maggie and I had to do after work on Friday would be to drive home, pick up any last minute forgotten items along with the dogs, and head out for an enjoyable four day holiday.

After putting away, cleaning, and setting up as much as possible inside the camper Thursday evening it was almost 8:30 PM.  I hadn’t any supper yet so I looked to see what was available.  I found a can of SPAM in the pantry and since I hadn’t had a SPAM sandwich in some time, I decided that would hit the spot.  It wasn’t until after I had eaten the sandwich that I began to worry about the quality of the SPAM.  Oh, it tasted all right, no funny aftertaste at all, but I began to wonder if it was spoiled since the can had been in the trailer since Memorial Day.  It wasn’t until about 10:00 AM the next morning my suspicions were confirmed.

The next morning I woke early, dressed, and drove to pick Maggie up at home.  I had not yet suffered any ill effects from the SPAM.  We got to work and I was looking forward to trying to get off early so we could get back to the campsite and begin enjoying the holiday.  It was about 10:00 AM I began feeling flushed and a bit light headed.  Since I had not had breakfast as yet I went to the lunchroom at work and ate a blueberry muffin.  It helped a little at first.

Within an hour, I had the chills and felt like I was running a fever.  By noon I was convinced the SPAM had gone bad and I was in for a rough day.  At 1:00 PM I went to the car and sat in a reclined position trying to shake the chills, (the temperature in the car must have been in the high 90’s).  After an hour, I went back into the office and even though Maggie was unable to get off early, I was able to catch a ride home.  I immediately went to bed and tried to get some sleep before Maggie would get home.  I was home in bed by 2:45 PM where I tossed and turned, but got little sleep. 

Maggie got home about 4:30 PM and she then went out to the store and purchased some stomach coating medicine.  I took that and we then went out to the campsite arriving about 6:00 PM.  After some light set up, I went to bed and slept until the next morning.  Upon awakening, I was still weak and sore so I spent most of Saturday in and out of bed. 

Saturday was a beautiful day.  There was bright sunshine and moderate temperature with low humidity.  It was a great day so I wasn’t enjoying staying in bed.  I tried to stay up for a time but I would lie down every now and then.  I went to bed again early on Saturday evening.  It wasn’t until Sunday before I was beginning to feel like myself again. 

By Sunday morning when I awoke, I was feeling better and looking forward to at least the next three days of sunshine.  The sky was partially overcast and it was more humid than the day before, but the temperature was moderate so I could enjoy the day a bit more than Saturday.  I was able to sit outside, read and enjoy the day.  I was listening to music and not worrying about a thing.

About 5:00PM I started the fire in the barbecue.  We were going to have barbecue of bratwurst and polish sausages.  My stomach was feeling better although I was still a little weak I was looking forward to eating something.  I really hadn’t eaten much of anything since the blueberry muffin on Friday.  The sky was becoming overcast a bit as I finished the meat and brought it into the camper for dinner with Maggie and Kelli.

When I got into the camper with the barbecued brats and sausage the television was turned onto the program 60 Minutes.  The local station broke into the program with a weather alert. A severe storm warning for northwestern Milwaukee, area was being issued.  We were over 50 miles from the area of concern. 

Should we worry?  Why should we?  The weather was still fairly nice at the campsite.  It would take quite awhile for the storm to reach our area and besides, the storm was not traveling in southeasterly direction.  Within 5 minutes, the weather changed.  The wind picked up, the sky’s darkened and all hell broke loose!!! 

Kelli happened to be looking out the window and noticed the rain was starting to get heavier.  She asked if we needed to take the awning down since the wind was picking up.  I mentioned that the wind was blowing from the opposite side of the trailer so it should be all right.  Before I got the words out of my mouth I was proven wrong by the gust of wind that literally picked up the awning and blew it up in the air at such a degree it looked like it would snap right off.

It was at this time Maggie and I ran outside to try to secure everything we could starting with the awning.  The wind was howling, lightning crackling and thunder was shattering the air.  The sky had turned as black as midnight and the rain was coming down so hard we could only see sheets of water through the window pane.  It seamed as if someone was standing outside of the camper with a gigantic fire hose and was spraying the windows.  We could not see past the water. The wind was horrific; the only way I can describe it is cyclonic.  It was swirling, not coming from any particular direction yet coming from all directions at once.  Camping implements of all kinds were flying in the air, going every which way.  Tents were rolling down the road and through campsites. 

The small 2 – 3 foot drainage ditch that was about fifty feet from our camper, which was totally empty only a couple of minutes prior, now was swelling and appeared to be about 30 feet across.  Water was streaming under our camper creating a tributary to the swift ever growing river, which once was the drainage ditch.  The water from the ditch was getting near us but we had to concentrate on our awning.  It was still wildly blowing in the forceful wind and we knew it would not take long for it to fly apart.  The storm had only begun. 

We had a couple of decorative windsocks and two strings of lights attached to the awning.  They were all twisted together by now.  A wind chime that had hung off the awning now had its chimes completely entangled as if someone had spent hours tying knots in them.  In our haste to save the awning, we were forced to tear these items off the rail.  If we spent time trying to save these small items, we would have lost the awning for sure.

The awning was straining from the force of the wind by now.  SNAP!  The center support pole for the awning gave way.  SNAP!! The right support rail of the awning pulled away from the main support and was flying wildly in the wind.  FLASH went the lightning not far from our site followed by an immediate CRASH of thunder.  The sound and fury of the action around us could be compared to the wild firefights over in Viet Nam.  The only difference, we could now see the enemy, but we could not fight back.  We could only protect ourselves.

Water was coming down so fast the campsite could not drain fast enough and we were shin deep at times in rushing water.  I didn’t mention it to Maggie at the time, but I was wondering what it was going to feel like if lightning struck close by while I was standing in the water.  I decided I probably would not feel anything, it would happen too fast.  With this in mind I figured we had better hurry and get the awning secured.

While trying to secure the awning, Maggie was no more than 15 feet from me yet she could not hear me nor could I hear her. We mostly used hand signals as we worked frantically to save the awning.  Maggie had to grab the major roller support to keep the wind from snapping the entire awning off the camper while I was attempting to loosen the support screws from the side supports.  After what seemed forever, we were able to secure the awning enough so it would not tear apart even though the supports were broken. 

We then proceeded to gather what we could of our scattered belongings and threw them under the camper to keep them out of the rain.  (Little good that did as the water was streaming under the camper by that time.)  We were now in the center of the storm.  It was directly over us; the winds were swirling to the point we could see debris going in every direction at the same time.  The drainage ditch was now a small, but raging river.  The sky was even darker than before if this could be possible.  A couple good flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder finally persuaded us to get inside the camper.  Nothing was worth getting fried over. 

Once inside the camper we waited as the storm continued to pelt the campground.  We took stock of our injuries.  With only a minor twisted ankle and a few minor cuts and scrapes, we fared well.  We kept an eye out the window and continued to see debris fly all around us.  I noticed coming down the road was an emergency vehicle with its lights flashing.  I later found out it was the County Sheriff.  He had been trying to get to the park to warn us of the impending storm, but he had been caught up in it before he could even reach us.  Now, instead of attempting to warn us, he was looking for casualties.

Kelli, looking out the window, exclaimed there was a tree just about to fall on our Suburban.  We then heard a noise and looked out the front window of the camper in time to see the rock guard over the front window slam shut.  We knew the braces snapped and nothing was holding the rock guard open.  At this time Kelli noticed a chrome bar at the front side of the camper.  We thought this might have been the broken support for the rock guard.  We were wrong.  It ended up being a support pole for a tent many campsites away.

In a few moments, the branch of the tree that was bending so close to the Suburban finally gave way to the might of the storm.  The branch came crashing down.  We were fortunate enough to have the branch miss the Suburban, if only by inches.  The wind continued to push at the camper for the next fifteen or twenty minutes then finally died down and I was able to get out and look around the park.

The sky was becoming lighter and there was even a break in the sky allowing a bit of sunlight through.  What only an hour before had been a sunny, nicely manicured campground was now a vast scene of wreckage and debris; trees uprooted, snapped in half or split by lightning was a common sight.  Pieces of tents, lawn chairs, decorative items, and flags, (this being 4^th of July) were everywhere.  People were coming out of their enclosures, cautiously coming out into the open and finding the same sights as I. 

Everyone was asking the same questions, “Are you O.K.?”  “Did you suffer much damage?”  “Do you need any help?”  No one I saw was injured, although I did hear of one woman who had to be taken to the hospital in town, but no one knew why.  We did not know the extent of the storm as yet, however, one gentleman I met had been listening to a weather ban radio and said he had heard there was a tornado that touched down not far from the park.  Although it was rated as only an F-1 tornado, it was big enough for us. 

We later found out this was the same tornado that picked up four eighteen wheeler rigs and overturned them not many miles away.  We also found there were many people camping in the park that were not in the camp during the storm.  Many people had been to Milwaukee, about a half-hour north of us attending the Summerfest celebration.  They had no idea what awaited them upon their return.

Across the road from us there was a group of young campers that were from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  They were not around and of the four dome tents they had, only two were left standing after the storm.  At a campsite behind us where the people had left for the afternoon, there was a pop up camper.  It had its awning completely ripped off and shredded by the winds.  Most of the campers that did not take their decorative lights off before or during the storm had a chore rounding them up afterwards since the lights flew in all directions. 

One campsite at the western side of the park had a tree snap and collapse into the roof of the RV.  A neighbor in a nearby campsite had a chain saw and a group of fellow campers helped cut the tree off, however when the tree fell it damaged the roof of the RV severely, collapsing into it.  I was told the owner of the damaged RV had gotten on his cell phone immediately after the storm passed and already had called his insurance agent.

After going around the campgrounds and checking with others to see if they needed help, I looked for and found what I could of our flags, lights, and assorted items and decided to call it a day.  Maggie did great while we were outside fighting the elements.  Once inside she became nervous finally realizing what she had been through.  Kelli came through by keeping Blaze, our nervous Dalmatian, in check during the storm.  The worst appeared to be over for now so we settled down and finally went to sleep.

Before going to bed, Maggie took the dogs for a walk and witnessed sites in other areas of the park that had twenty and thirty-foot trees uprooted.  There were trees that had been struck by lightning.  They now were split open down the middle of the trunk.

We had originally planned on staying over until Tuesday midday, but after the storm, we decided to leave Monday morning if the weather did not improve.  On Monday morning, sure enough, the sky was gray and overcast.  The winds were mild, but cool.  The forecast was for more of the same throughout the day.  We decided we had enough.  We loaded all the equipment that was still wet into the back of the Suburban and then set about breaking camp. We had to roll up the indoor/outdoor carpeting we use in front of the camper while it was still soaking wet.  W didn’t put this in the Suburban; rather we lashed it down to the back bumper of the trailer.  We would take it home and dry it out by hanging it over our fence at home.

When I tried to start the Suburban up, Maggie was standing behind it and said that water poured out of the tail pipe when the ignition kicked in.  The water level must have gotten very high, almost to the bottom of the camper.  There was mud all around us and the ground was still slippery so it was a chore hooking the camper back up.

After finally hooking up the camper and pulling out of the site, we had to go to the dump station to clean out the gray and black water tanks.  When we arrived at the dump station we found a large tree had split and was lying across the roadway.  We had to wait about a half-hour while a Racine County Public Works crew cut the tree apart before we could get near enough to clean the tanks.  We then were able to get on our way.

Once we left the park, it soon became apparent how rough the storm really was.  For mile we saw trees split in half and falling near or on houses.  Small stock ponds were now small lakes.  Drainage ditches were swollen to the point they were encroaching on the houses many yards away.  Wisconsin Electric maintenance crews were found all along the roadway.  There was one stretch of road no one could travel down because it had every power pole for two to three blocks broken and toppled into the road.  The scenes reminded us of the movie Twister.  I made the comment that if this damage were caused from a small F-1 tornado, then I would not want to experience a larger one.  I’ll be satisfied with what we went through, thank you!

Upon arriving home, we found we did not escape the storm some fifteen miles from the campsite.  The creek that runs behind our property overflowed the banks for only the third time in twelve years.  (Twice in the past two years alone.)  We had debris spread along our back property line and the mulch and wood chips used for ground cover for our bushes and trees had been carried out and down the street.  There were a couple of small trees in our neighborhood that had been uprooted, but none from our yard.  We were lucky also since our sump pump worked fine and we had no water damage in the basement.

We parked the camper along the street and took all of the wet clothing and towels in.  We also unloaded the refrigerator and freezer and took the dry goods out of the camper.  We waited to clean and repair the camper on July 4^th.  By the 4^th, the weather was much better.  We had a bright and warm sun so I was able to take the items out of the Suburban and set them out on the driveway to dry.

We then scrubbed, vacuumed, mopped and dusted the camper, made the bed and reloaded what we could.  It took about 4 hours of hard cleaning and fixing before we returned the camper to the storage lot.  Finally we were able to settle down to enjoy the last half of the day.  What a way to spend a holiday!

Authors Note:

If you made it all the way to the end, thanks for riding out the storm with me — literally and otherwise. Stories tend to show up unannounced, the same way this one did, and I’m glad you stuck around to hear it.

Share it with your friends, your in‑laws, your outlaws, your camping buddies, and anyone who’s ever trusted a weather forecast they shouldn’t have.

As always, drop a note and add a comment if you wish. I enjoy hearing from you.

Finally, stick around — you never know what story will bubble up next.