20-24 August Homebound While Hurricane Henri Hits Westerly

 Stressful times as we head home with the Delta COVID variant raging across America also affecting children this time,  very poorly executed U.S. troop pull out of Afghanistan strands 10’s of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies as the Taliban takes over the country killing and destroying on its way.  Drought and wildfires in the West, brother Steven scheduled for heart valve replacement upon our return all as Hurricane Henri barrels up the Atlantic coast and heads for New England.  

8/20  On our  way out of Minnesota we drop down and visit Steve Sorman in lovely Red Wing.   He loaded us up with veggies from his garden after coffee and delicious home made scones.   

Henri Waves In Westerly

8/21  Henri made landfall in Westerly but thankfully, only as a Tropical Storm.  Power went out for 24 hours due to wind and some downed trees and roads that typically flood along the shore flooded but not real bad.   Henri’s rain made its way to Pennsylvania just as we arrived at Bald Eagle State Park 20 miles West of Williamsport.  We have only seen rain twice since we left Westerly on July 6,  once on way out in Iowa and Saturday in Indiana.  While they had record rains this summer in the East, it is bone dry in the West with massive lakes drying up and wild fires while the east has been more rainy than usual.  I’m afraid the next civil war is going to be about water in the west. 

8/23 So disappointed as we had hoped to attend Little League World Series games this morning but only family is allowed due to COVID and it was rained out anyway. Leaving in the afternoon to avoid the rains up ahead, we drive 2 hours closer to home to leave a shorter drive on our final day and to avoid more flooding rains as Henri comes back around and blasts New England.  We arrive at Four Seasons Campground, Scotrum PA on a hillside in the Poconos as the owners are regrading the roads washed out in last nights rains so we can get to our site.  Evidence that the woods and creeks became rivers is everywhere.  The babbling brook (name of road at bottom of campground hill) looks like a raging stream with evidence of rocks, trees, debris on it’s banks.  

8/24 Ugly traffic on I-95 in Connecticut made for a much longer trip home but we made it!  Great to go away, great to come home.  

Deb Enjoying Home Sweet Home

We had NO TIRE ISSUES this trip.  Is that a first?  We drove 7,800 miles this trip.  I wonder how many times we have driven back and forth across this country.  We are trying to stop at different places along the way to break up the trip and spread the drive out.  We notice we don’t have the driving stamina like we used to and it’s a lot more fun to explore.