Nightmare on Rain Street

The evening of the 25th, I was riding to who-knows-where. I didn't necessarily have a destination, I was just going to stop whenever I got tired. I ran into some bikers headed in the other direction, we shared stories over a Flavor Ice (remember those?!) and ice cream. They were going to camp in town for the night, I think that town was Minnewauken.
Anyway, at that point I had only ridden 60 miles and thought I should continue on for another 20 or so. I bid them adieu and on I went.
It was about 5pm and the clouds were looking a little suspect. As I rode, I began to hear rumbles of thunder.
I arrived at the Silver Lakes Casino and Resort around 7pm. It was a beautiful spot, right on the south side of Devils Lake. The sky was still looking ominous so I quickly set up my tent, wanting to have everything set up and secured before the rain began. I had my rainfly on, tent staked down, I put all my panniers in the tent, locked my bike up to the picnic table, and went off in search of dinner.

I found dinner, then got a little sidetracked at the blackjack table :) where I won $150. Bondo and Pete you would've been proud, I split a pair of 3's with my last $10 and luckily won, since it was a dumb move, but desperate times call for desperate measures! I clawed my way back and eventually went on a great run. I couldn't lose. Too bad the max bet was 25.

Anyway, I headed back to the campsite around 10:30pm. As I walked out the front door, it began to sprinkle. I took a few steps but quickly realized that the sprinkle was turning into a downpour. I retreated back to the entranceway, and watched the deluge for a good 30 minutes. It was a hard rain, a cacophony of cantankerous cats and dogs, along with God 's bowling pins creating quite a racket - weeks of heat and humidity and humongous temperatures all pent up and then unleashed all at once in this amazing display of rain and thunder and lightning. The lightning was so frequent that it was almost like daylight, or the light of a full moon. Everything was illuminated. There was no flash of lightning and then thunder a few seconds later. There was lightning upon lightning upon lightning. Continuous, and all over. It lit up the sky like bombs over Baghdad in Dubya's shock and awe campaign. My oh my what a release it was. It finally let up enough that I was able to run down to the campground.

I got in my tent and went over my options. Earlier that night I had talked to my mom and she wanted me to get another hotel room. I told her I can't get a hotel every time it rains or is too hot. But she's my mom and she loves me and wants me to be safe and comfortable and well aren't you supposed to listen to your mother? Man I wish I would have.

I could've packed everything up and got a hotel room, but I would've had to roll my sleeping pad back up, roll my sleeping bag back up, pack my tent up, pack my panniers, put the panniers back on the bike. Bungy the tent to the bike. It seemed too complicated, especially in a downpour.

So I decided to wait the storm out. I felt safe enough, being sheltered by smaller trees that were surrounded by larger trees. With my limited knowledge of how lightning works, I figured the lightning would strike the larger trees first, so I'd be safe amongst the smaller trees. Or so I kept telling myself. I laid there, with rain hammering down on the tent. I thought 'how can it possibly keep this up?' It was the hardest rain I'd ever experienced, and it had been going on for a good 30 minutes now.

At one point I looked at my phone. It was past midnight. As I did so, I placed my hand on the tent floor and realized it was floating. There was water underneath, a puddle. I was now in a puddle. That concerned me, as I had visions of bathtubs and hair dryers and electricity and lightning and you gotta play it safe around electricity! Remember that commercial, with the flying, singing green bug guy and the power lines?

I now felt unsafe, lying in a puddle of water, and decided to seek shelter. The tent was doing a great job of being waterproof. Not one drop of water had made it in. So, I stepped out into the bonanza, into the puddle, and ran up to where the bathrooms were. Soaked, standing under an overhang in my boxers, watching in awe this incredible display by Mother Nature. You can never underestimate her.

The sky was still being lit up, and the rain's frenetic pace only seemed to quicken. I could see my tent in the distance, being illuminated by lightning bolts. I decided that as soon as it seemed safe, I was going to run in, unstake the tent, throw everything on the back of the bike and run up to the hotel. Without putting anything away. As soon as it let up being the key words.

Thirty minutes later, I decided it had let up enough to make a run for it. I ran back down to where the tent was, only I realized that the small puddle had now turned into a small lake! The water was at least a foot deep now, almost up to my knees. My stomach sank, realizing that the water had probably risen above where the waterproof floor goes to on the side of the tent. Where the mesh begins. Mesh and water are not a good mix. I got to the tent, swearing in disbelief - how did the water get so high so fast??? - I unstaked the tent, fishing around underwater for the stakes - and tried to lift it. Didn't even budge. Water is heavy.

I opened the tent door and was disheartened by what I saw. Floating panniers. Floating everything. I fished objects out as I could find them. Throwing them onto the picnic table. It was like fishing the last few cheerios out of a bowl of milk, or finding the last few pieces of chicken in your chicken noodle soup broth. I needed to make sure I had everything before I turned the tent upside down to get the water out. After it felt like I had retrieved everything, I lifted one side of the tent. With the door opened, the water drained enough that I was able to get if off the ground. I carried it over to where the bathrooms were. Made 3 or 4 drips transporting my things from the picnic table to the bathrooms. Then I threw everything on the back of the bike. Dripping sopping wet tent, sodden, soaked sleeping bag - soaked everything. I checked the pannier with my phone, camera and iPod, and things were wet. Not soaked, but water had gotten in by way of the zipper. The panniers were designed to be waterproof to rain - there is a rain guard covering the zipper - but they weren't designed to be completely submerged in water. I tried to turn the camera on - nothing. Tried the iPod - nothing. Phone? Nothing. All ruined.

I got up to the hotel and sloshed my way to the front desk. I explained what happened, assuming they'd be very apologetic and offer me a free room. Nope. Full rate, plus tax. I was so discombobulated by what had just happened that it didn't occur to me to be angry. I was shell shocked. I got to the room and started the long process of hanging things up to dry.
At this point it was near 2am. I slung the tent over the table, hung all the clothes up on hangers, put the sleeping bag over the shower curtain rack, set all the items in my wallet on the dresser. The hair dryer became a very useful tool. I used it on my bike shoes, on my pillow, hell, I used it on almost everything. I emptied all 4 panniers, object by object. Piece by piece. Everything was wet. Not soaked though, only small amounts of water had made it into the panniers, but enough that everything needed to dry. I woke up every few hours to rearrange the tent, otherwise it would not dry in certain places.

In the morning, I called the front desk to request a later check-out time than 11am. They said there would be a $35 charge. I said 'I don't think you understand what just happened. Let me explain...' and after I got a little ANGRY she spoke to her manager and said I could have until 1pm. Then I did a load of laundry and continued the process of drying things. Putting humpty dumpty back together again.

Slowly but surely, it was a slow process. Tedious, frustrating. I kept thinking back - 'what could I have done differently?' Obviously, getting the hotel room in the first place would've been the best option. But I had planned on camping 99% of the time on this trip, so that's what I did.
Then I went over the sequence of events. Maybe when I left the tent to seek shelter I should've grabbed my panniers first. Maybe. But at the time, safety was my one and only concern. I wanted to get out of the puddle of water. And, at the time, it was only a puddle. It never occurred to me that the puddle would become a small lake. In fact, I still have no idea how the water level rose so drastically.

Anyway, it is what it is. I am ok, but my phone, iPod and camera are not. But they are replaceable.

I am now in Cooperstown, ND. Yesterday was fittingly beautiful. The calm after the storm. The prettiest day of riding yet. Last night I camped in the city park in Cooperstown, and woke up this morning to a small puddle in the tent. I think being completely submerged, it has lost its ability to be waterproof. There was lots of dew in the air, and the dew made its way into the tent. The doors were moist, the walls were moist. I think the tent is busted. Plus the poles are bent from me trying to lift it. So I'll have to deal with that once I get to Fargo. Fargo is 93.5 miles from here. A long ride ahead of me today.