Sleeping on the Ground in the Rain

I spent the night at Bear Heaven and it rained.
...and rained...
...and rained some more...
A lot of rain.

Not just a lot of rain for a little bit. An-unrelenting-lot from the time it started.

I put on the poncho and wandered around, looking for the other 2 geocaches at this little campground. I found the first one (Bear Haven - as it's named on a couple of different maps, but I prefer Bear Heaven as the Mon Forest Map and road signs call it - Bear Heaven sounds like Nirvana and Bear Haven sounds like someplace the Bears have to go to save themselves. What a difference an 'e' can make.), but the other (On the Rocks) will have to wait for another day (when it's not raining).
I set up camp in the rain.
It continued to rain.
It rained some more.
It rained all night.
It rained in the morning.
I took camp down in the rain.
It continued to rain.
I threw the wet tent and tarp in the car.
It continued to rain.
I loaded up and headed home.
It rained the whole way.
And it kept right on raining.....

Rainbow & Search for the Pot o' Gold

This was last week (the 1st, I think) looking across the front yard:




It was raining out in the field, but the kids didn't care. They took off after the other end of the rainbow in search of the gold.

Flooded Driveway

PC took this picture. That's me on the other side of the bridge. I walked down with Maisie to get a look at the waterfalls (I'll see what I can do for pics of those, too). PC and the kids were on the road side of the bridge in his truck taking a look at the flood. Yep, there's a little wooden bridge under the water. It's been there for at least 40 years, so other than a little erosion around the edges, it's still in good shape now that the water is back down.

It's still raining!

Screech called me from school to ask if I'd pick her up. At first I thought she was sick, but school is being dismissed early because of flooding.
So, sure, no problem. I'll pick them all up because the bus route goes through some tight spots right along Sandy Creek which can get really high pretty fast.
The only problem is our bridge is flooded! I can't get out! I drove down the driveway not really thinking anything about it, but when I rounded the turn it was obvious that I wasn't going anywhere. Unless I wanted to try it, and then I'd be going over the falls. But, nope, not trying it.

Fortunately, PC is making the rounds (3 kids at 3 schools). They'll end up at The 123 because they can't get home.

The bridge should still be there when the water goes down. I'm not sure I want to be the first one to try it out, but it has been there for a while - 40 years? I know it survived the big flood of 1985 because the neighbor was telling me about him and his wife using a rope tied off to a tree to drag him through the water. Yikes! Scary. And cold.

I feel totally ineffective. I can't get anywhere to do anything so I've been on the phone trying to get through to the schools, "Do not put him on the bus!" was essentially the message. What would happen if I wasn't calling? If I didn't know they were coming home early? If the kids got off the bus (assuming the bus driver would let them off with Swamp Run crossing our driveway) what would they do? Surely, with that much water they would know not to try to cross it. Surely. It's a little scary to think about. I think they'd know to go to H's and not try to cross....?


Before all this rain started, I'd decided I wanted a kayak. Hmmm....