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Old 08-07-2020, 06:58 PM   #1
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Severe Weather...

When I was just a lad, 3 tornados hit our home in one night. Two were designated F4s, but the experts say, by todays standards of measurement they would be classified as F5s. The supercell actually spawned 5 serious tornados total that evening in the Mpls metro area. It’s recorded with the NWS as one of the most significant weather events in U.S. history. It turned our house into splinters, but we all survived.

Needless to say, I keep my eye on the weather.So...I bet a few of you have had some weather moments in an Escape. I’m curious as to how it went?

May 6, 1965...the two F4s or F5s, however you slice it.
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:05 PM   #2
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When I was a kid, a tree fell on our living room roof. Mom was reading to us on the sofa when it fell. Then a few decades later I watched a mini-tornado hit a huge tree in my yard in Fresno (twisted it and broke it off- you could see the twist in the wreckage). Makes me a little nervous about windstorms around trees. I was up at Rasar when the August windstorm hit (2015, I think) and I thought for a moment the trees were all going to come down.
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:13 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by Voyager View Post
When I was just a lad, 3 tornados hit our home in one night. Two were designated F4s, but the experts say, by todays standards of measurement they would be classified as F5s. The supercell actually spawned 5 serious tornados total that evening in the Mpls metro area. It’s recorded with the NWS as one of the most significant weather events in U.S. history. It turned our house into splinters, but we all survived.

Needless to say, I keep my eye on the weather.So...I bet a few of you have had some weather moments in an Escape. I’m curious as to how it went?

May 6, 1965...the two F4s or F5s, however you slice it.
I assume you are referring to the Famous Fridley Tornado ?
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:26 PM   #4
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I assume you are referring to the Famous Fridley Tornado ?
Yes, our home was in Fridley. I didn’t mention, for 6 hours Golf ball to Baseball size hail pummeled the Twin City’s that night. How did you know of Fridley?
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:27 PM   #5
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We had tornado's around twice while out in a camper. Once in Natchez Trace SP in TN, it was the same storm front that flooded the Grand Ole Opry in 2010, we were in a hybrid camper and spent the night in the campground bathroom, Took 3 days for the roads to be cleared so we could leave. The hard part was we had a weather radio that was reporting tornado's all around but we had no way of knowing where they were, didn't have a map with counties marked on it. Thankfully the host came by and told us to run to the bathrooms. I wondered why all the lake front sites were available in a campground that you usually can't get any site in. Guess the locals knew what was coming and went home.

The 2nd was in Blackwater River SP in the FL panhandle. Again we spent the night in the bathrooms and had to wait for the water in the river to recede enough to get out of that CG. It covered the roadway for a day. Alf was at Gulf Shores at the time and had similar fun I believe.
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:29 PM   #6
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When I was a kid, a tree fell on our living room roof. Mom was reading to us on the sofa when it fell. Then a few decades later I watched a mini-tornado hit a huge tree in my yard in Fresno (twisted it and broke it off- you could see the twist in the wreckage). Makes me a little nervous about windstorms around trees. I was up at Rasar when the August windstorm hit (2015, I think) and I thought for a moment the trees were all going to come down.
Straight line winds can be wicked.
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:33 PM   #7
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Yes, our home was in Fridley. I didn’t mention, for 6 hours Golf ball to Baseball size hail pummeled the Twin City’s that night. How did you know of Fridley?
I grew up in St Paul - I had family that lived in Fridley and Columbia Heights
I worked on the tornado cleanup and sandbagged during The Great Mississippi River Flood on Shepard Road in downtown St Paul Minn .
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:34 PM   #8
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We had tornado's around twice while out in a camper. Once in Natchez Trace SP in TN, it was the same storm front that flooded the Grand Ole Opry in 2010, we were in a hybrid camper and spent the night in the campground bathroom, Took 3 days for the roads to be cleared so we could leave. The hard part was we had a weather radio that was reporting tornado's all around but we had no way of knowing where they were, didn't have a map with counties marked on it. Thankfully the host came by and told us to run to the bathrooms. I wondered why all the lake front sites were available in a campground that you usually can't get any site in. Guess the locals knew what was coming and went home.

The 2nd was in Blackwater River SP in the FL panhandle. Again we spent the night in the bathrooms and had to wait for the water in the river to recede enough to get out of that CG. It covered the roadway for a day. Alf was at Gulf Shores at the time and had similar fun I believe.
Both those sound harrowing. I generally stay clear of SP latrines 😲
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:36 PM   #9
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I grew up in St Paul - I had family that lived in Fridley and Columbia Heights
I worked on the tornado cleanup and sandbagged during The Great Mississippi River Flood on Shepard Road in downtown St Paul Minn .
No s***, yeah Columbia Heights, Spring Lake Park, Mounds View all got a piece of the action that night.
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:40 PM   #10
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I grew up in St Paul - I had family that lived in Fridley and Columbia Heights
I worked on the tornado cleanup and sandbagged during The Great Mississippi River Flood on Shepard Road in downtown St Paul Minn .
That first photo is right over the old FMC Plant on East River Rd and 694. About a half mile from our home at that point. My brother, sister and I were watching Johnny Quest at that time..lol.
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:48 PM   #11
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We had tornado's around twice while out in a camper. Once in Natchez Trace SP in TN, it was the same storm front that flooded the Grand Ole Opry in 2010, we were in a hybrid camper and spent the night in the campground bathroom, Took 3 days for the roads to be cleared so we could leave. The hard part was we had a weather radio that was reporting tornado's all around but we had no way of knowing where they were, didn't have a map with counties marked on it. Thankfully the host came by and told us to run to the bathrooms. I wondered why all the lake front sites were available in a campground that you usually can't get any site in. Guess the locals knew what was coming and went home.

The 2nd was in Blackwater River SP in the FL panhandle. Again we spent the night in the bathrooms and had to wait for the water in the river to recede enough to get out of that CG. It covered the roadway for a day. Alf was at Gulf Shores at the time and had similar fun I believe.
Hi: padlin... Yea!!! Now I know what the inside of the ladies loo looks like!!! We had a hurricane party in it during the tornado and that's the one that leveled a 3 story walk up in Pensacola Fl. I was in no hurry to leave the trailer till I saw on TV someones monster 5th wh. with the tires pointing skyward!!! Alf
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Old 08-07-2020, 07:50 PM   #12
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I interviewed for a job in Fridley once but they were not smart enough to hire me. Said I needed a masters degree to run a chainsaw. All I’d ever done was cut a thousand dead American elm trees and a ten foot diameter Grand Fir in the dark with fire in the top. Experience did not count. Did not know they had been in a tornado. Hadn’t heard the town name since the 70’s
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Old 08-07-2020, 08:01 PM   #13
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I interviewed for a job in Fridley once but they were not smart enough to hire me. Said I needed a masters degree to run a chainsaw. All I’d ever done was cut a thousand dead American elm trees and a ten foot diameter Grand Fir in the dark with fire in the top. Experience did not count. Did not know they had been in a tornado. Hadn’t heard the town name since the 70’s
Iowa Dave .
Maybe at one time...but there are few if any Masters degrees in Fridley these days.
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Old 08-07-2020, 08:31 PM   #14
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Makes me feel a lot better. They said they were looking for a professional person. I told them I was a tree surgeon. Did not get a laugh.

In the mid 70’s my crew and I went from Council Bluffs Iowa to Minden Iowa after a tornado hit their little town. We were trimming and taking down trees that were in sad shape and some that only had a few broken branches. We had a 54 foot High Ranger and were up in a shredded tree about 40 feet. There was a stob about an inch and a half in diameter where a small limb had been. Driven onto that stob was a porcelain on steel dishpan about 18 inches across. The stob was punched right through the bottom. As we were pulling it off, an old guy
( about my age now), was watching us and called out wondering if he could have the dishpan as a souvenir, we didn’t care and threw it down to him. Tried to make everybody happy. Best tree trimming job I ever had, didn’t have to pick up the brush on the ground. Townspeople and nearby farmers did all of that. That’s my tornado story.

T bone steak for lunch compliments of the mayor who had a freezer full of thawing meat and no estimate of how long the power would be out .
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Old 08-07-2020, 10:05 PM   #15
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Not me, and not Escapes, but I'm reminded of a weather-related experience my Airstreaming parents encountered long, long ago ...

One year a hailstorm hit the annual 'Airstream International Rally' site, that year in Bismarck, ND; hundreds if not a thousand +/- Airstreams in attendance. IIRC this was not long after Airstream changed to a somewhat thinner or different alloy aluminum skin, so the degree of resultant dimple-damage varied significantly among attendees (my folks' was an older model, suffering minimal and strictly cosmetic effects). Fortunately, again IIRC, there was little if any other-than-cosmetic damage to any trailer, and no personal injury from the episode.

Many, many Airstreams wore those dimples 'proudly' (ahem) for a long time after .... the dimples quickly came to be known as "Bis-Marks" in the Airstream community
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Old 08-08-2020, 07:56 AM   #16
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Not me, and not Escapes, but I'm reminded of a weather-related experience my Airstreaming parents encountered long, long ago ...

One year a hailstorm hit the annual 'Airstream International Rally' site, that year in Bismarck, ND; hundreds if not a thousand +/- Airstreams in attendance. IIRC this was not long after Airstream changed to a somewhat thinner or different alloy aluminum skin, so the degree of resultant dimple-damage varied significantly among attendees (my folks' was an older model, suffering minimal and strictly cosmetic effects). Fortunately, again IIRC, there was little if any other-than-cosmetic damage to any trailer, and no personal injury from the episode.

Many, many Airstreams wore those dimples 'proudly' (ahem) for a long time after .... the dimples quickly came to be known as "Bis-Marks" in the Airstream community
I’ll have to bring that up to my sister. She’s a Airstream nerd and owns an old Airstream, she keeps it in an Airstream park.
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Old 08-08-2020, 07:59 AM   #17
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I guess no egg rolls in a storm so far...but, that’s a good thing.
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Old 08-08-2020, 09:15 AM   #18
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I’ll have to bring that up to my sister. She’s a Airstream nerd and owns an old Airstream, she keeps it in an Airstream park.
When I spoke with Mom (94 years young) on the phone this morning she couldn't recall the date but laughed that I remembered their story of that of the episode (always great to hear Mom laugh in these days of isolation). Google revealed this .... it was 1993 and I was waaay under on my recall of the number of trailers: Bismarck Tribune article.

My folks' long and active retirement years coincided with a heyday of Airstreaming. They went through several Airstreams and IH Travelall then Suburban TVs, towing up the ALcan highway when that was a true adventure, riding the hitched-rigs on rail flatcars (!) down to Copper Canyon Mexico, and many trips to Newfoundland from their base in Austin. They were 'on the road' from late spring through late fall for many years, I'm sure they hit all of the 49 states and most Canadian provinces, visiting countless natural wonders and cultural sites along the way. 'Caravanning' isn't for everyone, but my parents forged many later-in-lifelong friendships, a few that still survive like my Mom with whom she's still in contact. God bless Wally Byam and the joy his creation (both the trailer and the lifestyle) brought to my folks

My wife and I flew out to stay with them for a few days in the Airstream enclave during the 1991 Albuquerque Balloon Festival; of course the Airstreamers had wrangled an ideal group-camp adjacent to the balloon field. A more welcoming and fun-loving bunch could not be imagined, they were a total hoot to be with.

Apology for the ramble, back to topic ...
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Old 08-08-2020, 10:16 AM   #19
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Centex,


You and your mother would enjoy this video, "Caravaners" from National Film Board of Canada. You would have to buy it, but it's worth it. I have a copy.
https://www.mcintyre.ca/titles/NFB525947
The three hundred Airstream trailers that are prowling the highways of British Columbia represent a new breed of nomad. Too active to just sit at home, but too cautious to strike out on their own, these retired couples have signed up for an organized caravan tour sponsored by the company that manufactures the trailers. Few surprises are in store for the group, but then they're never alone, and they don't have to worry about the day's route or entertainment.
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Old 08-08-2020, 03:23 PM   #20
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The 2nd was in Blackwater River SP in the FL panhandle. Again we spent the night in the bathrooms and had to wait for the water in the river to recede enough to get out of that CG. It covered the roadway for a day. Alf was at Gulf Shores at the time and had similar fun I believe.

When was this? I live a few miles west of Blackwater SP.
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