Hiding Out From Storms and Flood Warnings in a Cracker Barrel Parking Lot!

Today's travels are going to bring us to Bay City, Michigan. We are in the crook of the thumb for "the mitten". 

But before we left our beautiful site at Ossineke State Forest, I was able to add my own personal rock to the row on the path out to the beach. 

We had been planning to stay another day at our peaceful idyllic campsite. But then we happened upon the weather reports for over on this area of Lower Michigan. Things were not looking too good. No sireeeee not at all!

We figured we might as well start driving South and see where we end up. 

It first started with a gentle rain. Soon that changed to a downpour. Soon after that it was a deluge!! 

It was pouring so hard, that we decided for safety sake we should pull off the road. We holed up at a Walmart parking lot for a while. We took the time to make a little lunch and wait for the rain to let up a bit.

We got back on the highway and after another 20 or 30 miles it started raining again, quite strongly and forcefully. Sometimes the visibility was poor of other vehicles even coming towards us. So again we decided to pull off. We found a parking lot at a large group of storage unit buildings. So we holed up there for a while again. 

Finally we made it down to Bay City Michigan. This is right in the crux of the thumb part of the mitten. 

And what did we see at the very first exit that we came to? Yes! It's a Cracker Barrel!

For those who are not RVers, you may not know that Cracker Barrel has special long pull through slots in the back of their store. Specifically made for rvers! (Or tour buses). And they very much welcome people to take shelter from a storm, stay overnight, and hopefully come in and have a good meal. Here is a Google Earth view of the one that we are at. 

We went inside and asked for a table and also asked for permission to park out in the back with our RV overnight. Due to the high winds, torential rains, and flood warnings, there was absolutely no problem whatsoever. 

I have an extreme fondness for the mashed potatoes of Cracker Barrel. I ordered one side with my meal and my second side instead of a vegetable was a second container of mashed potatoes to take with me. I had also got the ham which I knew would be a huge portion. I took 2/3 of it out in a box that we can cut up tomorrow morning for breakfast and share together. Can you imagine three meals out of one?

Steve went for the delightfully home style meatloaf with the white gravy over his mashed potatoes. He really really likes meatloaf and I never make it. 

We had to use an umbrella to get into the restaurant, and on the way back out we got even wetter than we had planned on. It was REALLY blowing!!  So once we got back inside of the motorhome, we took off our drenching wet clothes. I happened to have packed along a pair of flannel pajamas. Can you imagine that? In August? Taking along flannel jammies?

Ahhhhh comfort.

Before Steve changed out of his wet clothes he did one last dash out with the little dog to see if she would actually go potty. Huddled under a tree she finally decided it was time to do her business. 

So we are curled up tonight in this quiet area behind the Cracker Barrel. Everything is pretty pleasant inside of the motorhome. Let it rain and bluster and flood and whatever outside. The shades are drawn and we are in our own safe little world in here. It doesn't matter where we are, as long as we are together.