Campfyre Stories

So we left the festival with relief rather than reluctance, though Spawn was upset to not get the email addresses of his friends.  We took main roads and avoided the detours and debris in the road.

We were about starving, having not been able to get lunch before everything went to chaos, so we stopped, grubby and gross, at Denny’s and had a nice meal.  Went home and enjoyed the things we usually take for granted.  Pooping in a toilet that flushes, showering for as long as we wanted/needed, not having to worry about the stability of our shelter…  Then we each passed out for a few hours.

I found out on Wednesday that the storm we experienced had actually been a tornado that didn’t touch down.  From the official post:

This was a mini tornado that hit us Sunday, it never touched down. We had been tracking this storm, labeled F5 on NEXRAD radar on my laptop in the Communications trailer. Was moderately severe, very compact and moving rapidly. It was past us & thought we were OK. Storm track animation showed it was moving away.

Than there was a sudden rotation and it came back with 70 MPH winds, 3 inches of rain and up to golf ball size hail. There was no time for a warning like the ones passed on earlier, it happened so fast.

We could not believe the same storm that had passed on the radar was now in front of us again, was on us before we could even get on the radio. I got one call in to mainstage and one to security base. Hail started WHILE I was making these calls on my cell, radio communication was totally OUT.

Tornado formation is very unpredictable. We just did not think anything like that was possible, indeed 4 of us looking right at the radar were puzzled at what we were looking at for several precious seconds.

So that’s what we weathered, none of us knowing it.

I emailed a couple of friends who were still there during the storm tornado and they told me their stories.  It’s interesting to me, I’ve heard many stories across the internet, but, so far, few from anyone who was in the same location as I was.  I’d really like to hear that story from another perspective.

But I have heard some very frightening things, as well as a lot of really heartening things.

So Spawn and I got home and safe and slowly moved back to reality.  I took Monday off of work and kept the car for a few extra days, so we went out, saw a movie, did some shopping and paid someone else to do the nasty festival laundry.

And that, my dears, ends my saga of Falcon Ridge 2008.  Happy 20th anniversary!  It was certainly a weekend to remember, on so many levels.