Florida Thunderstorm Disaster

by Candace
(Land O Lakes, fl)

The first camping trip my husband and I shared turned into a disaster as a typical Florida thunderstorm hit. We met up with some friends of ours who were visiting from up north. They were going to be here for about a week, but it happened to be at a time we were getting ready to head north for a week.

We had one night to spend with them. We had purchased a small two man tent for ourselves which we set up next to their 6 man tent. Their's was a two room tent. We spent the evening around the fire, then when the mosquitoes (yeah, it is Florida) got bad we went into the screened area and played cards.

Around mid-night we all went to bed. A few hours later we were awakened by our tent blowing down. As we exited the mess our tent actually blew away! It was pouring down rain, thundering and lightening, and the wind was blowing like crazy.

We joined our friends in their large tent, which didn't seem so large when you added a large wet dog. There were 4 adults, 1 child and 1 wet dog in the tent. As we tried to sleep water began leaking in through the sides of the tent.

Needless to say, none of us got much sleep. I love camping but this is one trip I would love to forget!