The St. Cloud Adventure

Kathleen and I made the 2 1/2 hour drive from Leech Lake south to St. Cloud on Friday afternoon July 1. Since it was the start of the 4th of July weekend, the traffic heading north was very heavy, and in some places, such as through Brainerd/Baxter, it was actually bumper to bumper for nearly a mile.

We were on our way to a Coyle family reunion/picnic at Kathleen's mom's house. Not all of Kathleen's siblings would be there, but there were still more than 15 people planning to attend.

Apparently I'm the only one of the group that barbecues on a regular basis, so I agreed to bring my Weber grill to the picnic and be the one to do the BBQing. Once we arrived in St. Cloud, around 4:45 p.m., I unloaded the grill, got the grates into place and put the charcoal into the chimney in preparation for the grilling once everyone arrived.

By 5:30 p.m. most people had arrived. At right around 6:00 p.m. we all went to the end of my mother-in-law's driveway to watch the humongous black storm cloud move our way. The temperature for most of the day in St. Cloud had been in the mid- to high-90s, and just before the storm hit the temperature peaked at 97 degrees.

We could see some slight rotation in the storm clouds and thought that a tornado might be brewing. Within minutes, the storm had descended upon us bringing with it high winds, heavy rain and pea-sized hail.

I quickly moved the grill into the gazebo which is in the back of my mother-in-law's house to get it out of the rain. Surprisingly, the charcoal, which I had started just before the storm hit, was still burning. Quite a testimony to Kingsford charcoal.

As I began putting burgers, hot dogs, and brats onto the grill, the sirens started to sound warning of an impending tornado. At this point the backyard was littered with branches and leaves from the many oak trees in the yard.

The sky had darkened and looked an eerie color green. The wind was blowing so hard that even though I was inside the gazebo, with its walls of screen mesh, there was nary a place that was dry.

At one point I needed to run into the house, not more than a 20 foot distance, and got soaking wet before I could get inside. The rain was coming down so hard, and blowing from seemingly every direction, that I was completely wet as I entered the house.

Once inside I was told that water was seeping into the house from the utility room, underneath the stairs and from the bathroom. Just as we were checking to see if my mother-in-law had a sump pump which we could use to remove the flood of water, the power went off. Quickly candles were lit and flashlights located. Everyone was told to refrain from using the bathroom since her water supply is via a well, and with the power off, the well pump wouldn't be able to replenish the water in the toilets.

We ate our BBQ dinner and then before dark everyone got into their cars and headed elsewhere. Marge went back to St. Benedict's. The various other family memebers went back to their homes, while Kathleen and I went to a local hotel. Our plan was to leave the next day for the lake, so we had planned on spending only one night in St. Cloud.

On Saturday, once the power was restored, we spent hours using a Wet-Dry vacuum sucking up water from Marge's swamped carpet and running fans and a dehumidifier in an attempt to dry up the hallway, bathroom and dining floor. We actually made good progress and by evening the carpet was only damp.

Then came another wrinkle in our visit. The plan was for me, Kathleen and Ashley to go back up to Leech Lake on Saturday evening, but Ashley had an offer from her aunt and uncle to go see a Minnesota Twins baseball game on Sunday afternoon. So we all agreed to spend another night in St. Cloud (not our favorite place) and head north when Ashley got back from the game.

Finally at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday we were in the truck heading to Leech Lake. Marge's carpet was nearly dry, the power was on, and everything seemed to be in good shape.

We got to the lake just before 11:00 p.m. and were looking forward to some summer fun at Leech Lake.