A SHORT, LIVELY REVISIT TO S. LLANO RIVER STATE PARK, JUNCTION, TEXAS

What would we do without the NOAA weather radio?

We spent last night at South Llano River State Park, on the western edge of the Texas Hill Country, a favorite of ours. The weather was warm (close to 90) in the afternoon and very still. As we returned from a walk, we could see thunderheads building to the west - and the weather radio showed an amber "watch" light. Our county and the three in the immediate vicinity were under a "severe thunderstorm watch". With no local TV, no local radio, and no internet access, we were glad to know what we might expect.

After dark, we began to see lightning and hear thunder. It wasn't long before the weather radio blared again and announced a couple of severe thunderstorms in the immediate area. As the low, flat, disembodied voice of the weathercaster rumbled on, we heard "South Llano State Park campground" mentioned - boy, did our ears prick up! One of the storms was tracking rights towards us.

The good news: no tornados associated with this storm, which made me feel 200% better.

The bad news: hail... but only up to nickel sized. Winds, up to 50 mph.

The storm was supposed to reach us at 9:05 pm, in about 5 minutes. We brought the slides in - we try to get as small as we can when hail or wind damage is a possibility - then sat down in the dark and watched the show. WOW!

By 9:20 or so, it had passed overhead and was moving east. By 10 pm, we could see stars, the temperature had dropped from the mid-80's to 61 degrees (!) and the radio was silent. By 10:30 pm, I was sound asleep.

This morning was gorgeous! We did five miles of walking in the park (this photo is of the South Llano River) before we left, knowing we wouldn't see any comparable scenery later today.

Now we are at Saddleback Mountain RV Park (read our review here) on the edge of I-10 near Balmorhea, Texas - nothing lush and green here! I was surprised to find that the Verizon aircard service was working well enough to post (very slowly) the the blog. Tomorrow, on to Lakewood, New Mexico.