Looking for Adventure? Try a Windstorm in an RV

It’s 3:45 a.m. on Sunday morning and for several hours I’ve been trying to ignore and sleep through a windstorm in Wanda, my RV.

Each time the wind whips through there is massive shaking accompanied by the rattle and flapping of her awning. If a gust is strong enough, it swoops under the cab-over portion as well and tries to lift it off the chassis.

Yes, it’s noisy, but even more impressive is the sense of doom you must live through until you finally understand that the whole kit and caboodle isn’t going flip over with you inside. Because, believe me, it feels like it.

I slept through some minor windy nights when I first moved back to California and was camping at Folsom Lake. It was my first time and then too I felt as if we would simply fall over. But during those nights, it didn’t take long for the winds to die down. Tonight, this has been going on since about 10 p.m.

I don’t hear the neighbor’s awning flapping so loudly and have gotten up, in part, to spy on hers through my kitchen window and see if it’s also threatening to rise with the next blow.

Here comes another one. No - her patio cover is actually more stable, perhaps because hers has poles that are anchored to the ground. Mine hangs from the top with supporters that angle back to Wanda’s base. Oh, well, makes for more drama our way.

Now that I’ve recorded the windiest night in Wanda’s and my history, I may be able to drift off again.

Sweet dreams. May you survive this night and go on to other adventures. I suspect I’m making this blessing for myself and not those of you who will safely read this in the morning.