10 Jul 2023 - Arrived at I-80 Lakeside Campground in North Platte NE and Mother Nature's Revenge

 

We departed South Sioux City this morning at 0834 hrs and headed west on US 20.  It was a beautiful, sunny Monday and a nice travel day.  We took our time and winded our way west and south across Nebraska on primarily two-lane highways, but there was very little traffic. 

A lot of our trip today looked like this!

The Nebraska sand hills came into view. 

The temperature continued to climb along the way.  We notice it hit 90F degrees but it may have gone higher.  Nothing like they are experiencing in Texas and other locations, but mighty warm compared to what we had seen so far.  

 At 1446 hrs, 5 hours and 12 minutes and 315 miles after we departed we rolled into North Platte and found the I-80 Lakeside Campground where we had reservations.  That is a pretty long day for us as we normally shoot for 225 miles or so on our travel days.  We got checked in quickly and made it to our site. 

Sites are pretty tight, luckily no one right next to us on our door side.

Notice the skies!

Set-up went well and afterwards we had a late lunch, but as the afternoon went on, the clouds continued to build and the weather alerts let us know about some impending storms. 

Dark skies to our northeast.

We took Liberty on a quick walk and the skies became darker.

Ominous clouds above our coach.

There was a line of severe storms to the north and east of us and it looked like we might miss the worst of it.  One of the weather apps my grandson had me get is called "Radar Scope", and it was showing a cell that looked like it might start our direction and it forecast two inch hail.  

The campground shelter was right behind us so we had that covered.  There were no strong winds forecast, but the main concern was the hail.  There was no realistic way to try and pack up and move in time, so we rolled in the slides and here came the hail!

After it passed there were a couple more cells to our west but they headed south and we got no further hail, just rain.  Went the rain subsided we mopped some of it off the truck and Mother Nature left her mark in quite a few places on the hood, the quarter panels and the roof.  . Here are a few:

 The only visible damage to the trailer that we could see from the ground or from inside is the vent cover in the bathroom, which is cracked.  Realizing there is a Maxxair cover over top that, the hail musty have penetrated that cover to damage the cover below. 

Tomorrow when the weather is clear I will go up there and have a better look.  In the mean time I initiated the process with our insurance company on both the truck and the RV.

Hey, it is what it is.  This, too, will pass.  We are lucky.  No one was injured.  No glass was broken.  The truck has a little cosmetic damage but is completely serviceable and our RV is yet to be determined, but likely very "camp-able".  Our friends Mike and Rachel in Arkansas were not so lucky.  They recently were on the receiving end of a terrible hail storm and have buildings with severe damage and their Alliance Paradigm RV very similar to ours may likely be totaled.  Their damage makes our minor dents and tweaks pretty insignificant.

At the end of the day, a double rainbow appeared, maybe a sign that all will be well and there are better days ahead.  We all need to be thankful for everything we have and sometimes we need to be reminded.