Armchair Anonymous: Extreme Weather

23:58Kind of plays into the story a bit. How big of a group is the group of people? So we are nine adults and my two children who are three and five at the time. So Saturday morning, weather's gloomy. It's supposed to be a miserable weekend. We'll make the most of it. So we have breakfast on the dock in the rain under the roof. Weather clears up. Towards the end of that, let's go for a boat ride might be our only chance. It's the only boat that we have that works. It's my father's pride and joy. So probably has more hours like waxing it on the lift than in the water all summer. But I'm going to take it 26 foot inboard.

24:33It'll work. But I hate driving it. I do not want to fix it if I break it. All those things. So we head out to a friend's place. Tried to just go for a boat ride 30 minutes east of that yet. Huge lake. Goes down into Minnesota even. You can go for hours in any direction. Oh, wow. So we get there. We're going to take a scenic rope back, but it starts getting a little darker. So we're just going to go straight back the way we came. So heading back halfway through that, it starts raining. So it's not a big deal. We're going to put the top up. We'll keep going. Some people have stayed in the front.

25:04We'll get wet. We'll dry off when we get back to the dock. And a minute after that, it starts hailing worse. That's painful. Yeah. So they're coming in. It's fine. But it's still, we're just going to go back. We're probably halfway there. A minute after that, it's hailing so bad. feels like it's gonna smash the windows fiberglass boat it just sounds way worse than it probably is so we stop and that's when i noticed there's a cloud ahead of us it's the whole sky never seen anything like it before and ever since but it's like churning like a paddle wheel oh no like a horizontal tornado exactly and it's greenish dark blue not an expert in that doesn't sound like something i want any part of so we're gonna turn around we're gonna go back the way we came not a big deal everyone's in so now the layout of the boat is like jeff this like new alpha guy that's come into the group to date our friend is like right beside me facing backwards and then it's a spacious boat but there's nine of us in there plus two kids are at my feet so it's like we're pretty crammed in no one's really looking out because everyone's trying to stay warm also worthy of note now temperature's dropping like crazy and we have a friend amy who has a cold allergy so her throat can close up oh my god she's in the wrong country it's amazing she's alive because she's from winnipeg yeah yeah she needs to be in florida we're still just getting away from this cloud at this point so jeff's looking out the back and i'm just piloting the boat and then he like motions to me and i look and there's a funnel cloud coming out of the cloud okay not ideal and then the bay that we are driving down you can't really maneuver so as i prepared to tell the story it's like why didn't i do a few things different or like most things different but there's like islands and rocks under the water so you're kind of stuck going it has like a channel kind of that's right it's called ptarmigan bay it's fairly wide but you can't really use all of that because there's stuff in the way so we're going down now i'm pinning it probably like 45 50 miles an hour for a boat full of people it's too fast but we're going tornado touches down behind us and jeff points back and i don't think anyone else is really aware which is good my kids certainly aren't they're just huddled underneath and tornado touches down and it's like a wall like inception the earth turns vertical i promise you this is like my memory is the entire it wasn't like a funnel full of water there's a wall of water and it's gaining because obviously we're not getting away from it hit it even harder we are max now is the water getting choppy as well oh so bad like we're like getting air but it it does not really matter we're cutting through it okay but it's bad we're not getting away from it so i realized at one point not only it's choppy but that boat has high shoulders but we're at a 45 degree pitch so the water's almost swamping us on the one side but there's a like granite cliff on the side so i don't have 50 years of piloting experience but i know it's windy you're gonna to turn into it can't do it because there's a cliff right there jeff on the other hand is telling me to beach the boat because he's kind of freaking out but he doesn't know us well and he doesn't know me at all so he doesn't know if i'm capable of like sustaining his life like he doesn't want to die with people he doesn't know so he's giving me a lot of advice but great guy tough when i tell it told it a lot of times over the last decade to like fully experience again the emotion that i was, I don't really fully remember, but I remember one thing.

28:33And that's when the boat's sideways, I don't know what to do. We're pinned. The water is almost to us. And I remember thinking, okay, my kids are at my feet when we sink. So that's how sure I was. This was ending in disaster. When we sink, I'm going to take those little handles on the back of the life jackets. I'm going to grab them. I have to remember to swim backwards so that we don't drown because the roof's up i remember thinking like that's what i gotta do when this boat goes down which seemed like an inevitability at that time but i'm standing here so i'm like talking to you so we're okay but tornado hits us it goes right over us so i can only navigate on the gps so it's pitch black out it's hailing so hard i'm just looking at the gps and this again seems unreal but go to my grave swearing this happened we're just going as fast as that boat will take us in one direction and then on the GPS all of a sudden we're just like a top like we're going at 150 degrees a different like it's spun us so now we're going in a different direction towards where we can't go so kind of like wind her down a bit okay let's correct and then a second later again we're going in a different direction and then wound it back I've seen the movie Twister that's my only experience with these things but it's like were we I guess in the eye of a tornado or is there two like I don't to really know what it was.

29:53But then because I'm not very smart now, I assume it's past. We'd realize this later, but we're like now chasing the tornado at 50 miles an hour because we don't know what we're doing. You're so disoriented. You can't see. Yeah. So it's like pitch black. And then you're worried about other boats coming in. So I'm like sticking my head out beside the windshield and then trying to hear something, but you can't really navigate. And then amy with the cold allergy like the blankets are off of my children there's like people surrounding her trying to keep her warm oh and like kids are freaking and then amy's not doing well oh jeff's telling me to beach the boat what does beach the boat mean just drive it to shore and fucking slam into shore so yeah just get off get off the lake by any means necessary i guess so we can't go to where we're gonna go because it's a dock and the storm's wild so then we end up in kind of an area I knew that at a beach so just ran up saw a cottage everyone ran up and then I was the last one because I tied up the boat and then when we got in there everyone's like looking at me a little strange because I was putting my head outside of the boat at 100 kilometers an hour and then I like welts all over my face but storm passed went back everyone survived I've asked other people it was a fairly calm experience other than a few I think it was just so hectic that people didn't lose their minds.

31:14Yeah. They knew to not make the situation worse instinctively. A friend Alec was like, so I always thought from this comment that I was like a hero in this. And that's not the case because as I've reviewed to come on here, I realized like all the mistakes that were made are solely mine. And if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have even been on the boat. But I was like, Alec, what was it? I didn't hear anything from you. And then he said, well, I just was looking at you and you were calm. So I thought it must not be as bad as it seems. So I always thought, oh, man, like I am in charge. People are lucky to have me around.

31:46But every single decision made on that entire trip was mine solely. And we ended up under a tornado. Evaluating a captain. Yeah, if you drive your passengers into a tornado, that's right. Not a good deal. But not panicking is essential. Although I don't know if he was panicked, it would have gone much worse. I mean, I can't imagine. But then everyone would have panicked. maybe jeff would have taken over but we'd all be dead then so oh scary that is so scary what was the dynamic between you and jeff the new alpha male after that experience were you closer were you now bonded yeah well i still see him him and andrew did not work out i don't think you can base a relationship on that traumatic of an experience so early on but i see him around town because winnipeg like i said and we're all friends of friends unrelated to that but i think it was good.

32:36Like that afternoon was the best afternoon because everyone's just ready to go. It was a good party afternoon because we all survived. Went through it. You just like tell different versions of that event. I remember calling my dad to be like, hey, save the boat. Like this is what happened and boats on the lift and we're good. And then getting an almost no reaction. And then maybe the next summer he just said, oh, hey, remember that thing that you went through last year? The tornado like took down all the trees and my neighbors, it was verified. Finally, it was like real like it went through brown's island and then came across the bay and then i think he realized that i wasn't just in some wind exaggerating yeah yeah oh i thought you were gonna say next summer he texts you hey you owe me six thousand eight hundred dollars i just looked at the boat no thankfully not he's replaced a few props that i've busted on his boat not that day i kept it safe wow oh harrowing look i didn't get that extreme but i know that fucking feeling because we were coming up the locks.

33:36It takes a long time to come up in the locks, like maybe 25 minutes. And just watching this insane thunderstorm move over the lake that we're about to get deposited and just going, there's absolutely nothing I can do. I'm stuck in the locks. And sure enough, they open up and we're just in an insane lightning storm in the middle of the lake. It was so bad. Yeah, you just gotta get home. You just feel like, I guess. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And there's like a weird lake effect for weather where you can almost see the exact edge of the rain. And you're like, well, I can just zip around there maybe because many times we've been stuck in rain.

34:07I was looking out and going like, oh, thank God there's other idiots out here. I'm comforted by the fact that these people are on jet skis and that seems more dangerous, but just barely. There's no windshield wipers. So then when it's raining, it gets really awful out there. Yeah, I was looking through some tiny sliver between my sunglasses and the windshield and still getting pelted. Well, Mark, thanks for that harrowing tale. Are you guys heading back out soon? It used to be every single weekend, but we have one son that plays baseball. And so now every single weekend is baseball. And you kind of hope he doesn't make the good team so that you can actually have a summer.

34:43But that all ends in July. So then we'll go out literally every weekend. That's the prairie way. You live in town during the week and then you take off for the lake if you can, if you're lucky enough to have a spot. Oh, I'm happy for your kids. That's the best kind of summer. It is great. Well, Mark, great meeting you, brother. Yeah, thanks for chatting. Yeah, you guys too. All right. We look forward to our third Winnipegian. This has been two for two success. That's right. We're nailing it. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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38:36Hi. Hi, is this Janine? You're in a kid's bunk bed. I am in a kid's bunk bed. Minimally of two, I would imagine. I do have two kids. This is true. And I didn't have a closet and I tried to follow the rules. This is great. It sounds great. Yeah, you've done an excellent job. And where are you, Janine? I am in the Pacific Northwest. I was going to make you guess, but I didn't have any context. To be more specific of where I am, I'm actually on the Oregon coast. I live in Tillamook. Oh, wow. Home of Tillamook cheese. Love the cheese. Is that an enormous operation? Because I always think because In-N-Out famously uses Tillamook cheese.

39:12God bless them. That's half the reason that place is so delicious. Yeah. And I do wonder, how big is the Tillamook cheese plant? It's pretty big, but it's not the only place they make the cheese now. But it is really good size, and it's our largest employer here in Tillamook County is the cheese factory there. We have a couple others. And, like, right now, this is peak season for us. So we, as people who live here, do not frequent the cheese factory from about April to October. Because tourists are there? So busy. And if you do commit to it, I tell every tourist that comes through, just be okay with ice cream at 10 a.m.

39:49when they open. Because, like, I'm not going at 2 o 'clock in the afternoon. So you can get ice cream? Do they also give out cheese samples? They do. Since COVID, it's now the little, like, wrapped cheese. Oh, yeah. They have a full-service restaurant, and you can get all sorts of stuff there. Nice. Do they make a great grilled cheese there? I hear that they do. I have the unfortunate affliction of not being able to eat dairy, so I don't know. Same, girl. I mean, I can. I'm just miserable when I do. Correct. Sometimes you commit to the misery if you know you're going to be home. Okay, great. So yours is more of a lower GI.

40:24Mine's congestion. Yeah, it just fucks me up. Okay, so you have an extreme weather story. I do have an extreme weather story. To set the stage, it is 2013, and my parents at the time are retired living in Hawaii. We had our son who was just about eight months old, and this would be the first time on an airplane for him where he was awake and conscious of that, as well as to see grandparents in their living space. So we flew to Hawaii for a trip. And you probably know this, Dax. Once you have kids, you as the child are just nothing. They just want the grandkids. My parents sent my husband and I off for a whole day of adventure.

41:04All they watched are a month old. They lived on the side of the island. Wait, what island are you on? Oahu. Oahu, okay. The Cocoa Trailhead. It's like a super steep mountain. They live kind of in that neighborhood. And it's where Bruno Mars had a house. Downey Hunter supposedly had a house. Oh, nice. So it's upscale. Yes, it was super upscale, fancy schmancy. So that day we took the mopeds out and we rode the mopeds. And then we went into Oahu and my husband surfed and I sat on the beach. And then we had had reservations at Turtle Bay on the north part of the island. So just for reference, that's like an hour away.

41:40So we head up north and we stopped along the way. We went to all like cutesy little places up there. We know that car ride well, Monica. We've done it. That's where that fun burger shop was in front of the surf competition. Yeah, that was cute. It's a super fun place. And so Turtle Bay is amazing. We had a great meal on Turtle Bay right on the waters. For people who have seen Sarah Marshall, that's where Forgetting Sarah Marshall was shot. I forgot about that. We finished dinner. It's sometime in the evening. It's now dark. And we take off to head home back to the other side of the island. It rains every day in Hawaii.

42:11No big deal. And did you ride mopeds up there? We didn't. We were in a Mini Cooper. It's my cousin's Mini Cooper. She lived with my parents at the time. And we're driving. It starts to rain pretty significantly at one point. And we're just listening to the radio. And then the emergency broadcast alarm comes on. Oh, boy. And it's listing off all of these counties, towns. I don't know. It's all Hawaiian names. I don't even know where we are on the island at this point. Listing all these counties and names to be aware of flash flood warnings. And we're like, okay, but that's not going to be us. So we keep driving.

42:47And Dave's like, man, these puddles are getting legit in this Mini Cooper. I am hydroplaning kind of a lot. And I go, okay, babe, should we just pull over for a while? Like, and just wait this storm out. He's like, I don't think so. I bet we're going to out drive it. I feel like we don't need to keep driving, but sure, we'll keep going. We keep going. Oh, no. And it's just pouring. I mean, rain that I've never experienced before in my life. Just torrential downpour, the windshield wipers. I mean, you might as well just not even have them going. Yeah, yeah. And he's just two hands on the wheel forward.

43:21And all of a sudden, I feel this like rush of something hit the side of the car. And I think we've hit a guardrail. I'm like, what are you doing? Stay on the road. I'm not in control of this car anymore. Oh, God. We are literally floating. What we didn't know was that there was like a creek or a river of some kind on this side, like the oceans on the left side of us. some type of waterway is over here, whether it's just a ditch that's overflowing, no idea. But it had crested over at that moment that we drove by and it started to carry us off. Oh, boy, towards the ocean. Correct. I screamed and he was like cranking the wheel and somehow got enough footing or maybe it was not deep water, whatever.

44:12We were able to get off at like a side maintenance road. And And unfortunately, as soon as we get 20 feet, not even, maybe 10 feet up this road, the car just dies. Oh, it's had enough. Well, he was like, I screwed up. I, in a panic, hit the gas, not realizing that I was not in control of the car, that we were in water. He's like, I didn't comprehend that. So as you know, when you hit the gas, you intake all the water and boost the motor. So we get up this road and we find that we are accompanied by about like six or seven other cars, other groups of people that are up on this road just kind of hanging out.

44:49I immediately burst into tears because that's my response. Because I'm thinking, oh my God, what if our son had been with us? He's eight months old. What would we be doing? This is so crazy. And Dave, my husband, the calm, cool, collected one, is like, but he's not with us. We're going to be fine. So I feel like 20, 30 minutes goes by. During that time, we turn around and a Honda Civic just floats right on by out to the ocean. Oh my God. Out to the ocean. Out to the ocean. It's gone. And I'm like, is anyone concerned about those people? We see a city bus. And this is the funniest part. They float through and you could tell the moment where the bus driver probably goes, yeah, I can't float through.

45:30So then he tries to back up the city bus. That did not work either. Thankfully, he was heavy enough to just float forward instead of floating. So I don't know how many people were on said city bus. And then all of a sudden, thankfully, we see sirens. We can see the flashing lights and the waters receded enough that the fire truck can get through. And all these people who probably are locals are starting to, like, leave. And they know all these other back roads where our car is dead. And I think another group also has a dead vehicle. So we all hop in the fire truck and they back us out. It's great.

46:06We think, perfect, problem solved. They're going to take us to a fire station so we can figure out where we are to call for help. Because that's the other problem. Cell service wasn't great where we were. And we're not from here. So I don't even know how to call a ride. I don't even know where to tell my dad to come and pick us up. Right? We've now called him to say, hey, we're safe. But car is dead. We need to figure out how to get home. The fire department just says, glad we could help you today. And they move on about their day. And so we're just stranded on the side of the road. No idea what to do, how to get home.

46:36And then cue random guy in his 50s in a Buick. And he's like, are you guys stuck? You know, I kind of heard you talking. I have to turn around. I'm headed to work on the other side of the island. But I'm happy to give you a ride wherever you need. Okay. It's 8 o 'clock at night. It's dark. is a 50-some-year-old white male, and my girl feelers are like, no, we don't get in cars with people we don't know. This is a bad choice. We should not do this. And my husband's just like, sure. Yeah, yeah. And for some reason, he sits in the front seat. Well, I think that's the right move in case the guy gets wily.

47:14He's got to be able to attack him. So funny. That's exactly what Dave said that you might say, Dax. Yeah, it's the logical. that are directly behind him so he can strangle them. We get in and we head down the road. And he says, oh, you know, I'm so sorry. I have to stop at home because I have to go all the way around. I was going to pick up my lunch on my way. And now I won't have time because it's going to take us longer the way we're going. I need to stop at my house. We don't go to a second location like this is terrible. I can't say anything to Dave in the car. So we get to this man's house and Dave's like, I really need to pee.

47:48I'm going to go inside. Oh, my God. Tim's going to grab a shower and a meal. What is happening? Can you just pee in the yard? Yeah. I'm going in this house. He's like, it's going to be fine. You're going to go in with me. And I was like, absolutely not. In my mind, I didn't go in. And he was like, no, you went into the foyer and just stood there like a creeper in the foyer of the house. And you wouldn't go anywhere else. And there's like a random foreign exchange student, a random 20-something-year-old girl hanging out in his house. It was the oddest situation. and he came out and Dave was like, yeah, that was pretty weird.

48:22I'm not sure the vibe in that house, but I'm pretty sure she was there because she wanted to be. Oh boy. It also could have been that maybe she was forced to be there. We don't know. And I was just like, dear God, why are we in this car? But we get back in the car and he drives us back and all goes swimmingly. My dad picks us up wherever. I don't even remember where we rendezvoused at that point. And that was it. But that radio announcement that comes on, it says at the very end, turn around, don't drown. Oh, it does. Now we take that very seriously. Anytime I hear that, I just stop and make sure I'm not wherever that's supposed to be.

49:00And now any rain that we have. Oh, babe, this was turn around, don't drown rain. Right. We use that for everything now. That is a marker for how bad things are. Scary. Well, I'm glad that you guys are safe and that should be my priority. But all I can think about is, was the Mini Cooper salvageable? Did they get it back running? No, they did not. So the next day, my dad and Dave went out to go find it and look for it. And what's really funny about that is they're waiting for the tow truck to come to pick that up. The tow truck comes and the guys are like, oh, man, I'm really surprised that this still has all the wheels on it.

49:38And Dave's like, why are you surprised? Because they're like, this is a really rough neighborhood. I can't believe that the car is not in pieces in the morning. Yeah. But the only silver lining to that is he got that car for like$2 ,000. They had to total it. And in turn, she gave him eight. So he made money. Oh, okay. Oh, well, good. He should have given you guys$3 ,000. Split the proceeds. Janine, it's lovely meeting you. Yeah, thanks for calling. I want to say one thing. My shout out is to my kids. They listen to this all the time. And my daughter, her name is Camille. and the fun story about that is she was 100 % named from watching Parenthood.

50:17Oh, wow. And then my son Archer, who was featured in the said story. We're lucky to have you guys as listeners. Yeah, enjoy that Oregon coast. Take care. Bye. Hi. This is crazy. Hold on. Let me make sure I'm recording. Okay. Where are you at, Samantha? I am in Bradford, Ontario, about an hour north of Toronto. Oh, lovely. We've had a lot this week of folks from that same area in Ontario. It's true. I always ask, how close to Muskoka are you? About an hour and a half, depending on which part of Muskoka. Yeah. And do you get up to the lake a lot in the summer? As much as possible. It's so dreamy.

50:54It is. It's the best. Where does your extreme weather story take place? It actually happens in the Kawarthas. So more to the west, but also a very beautiful area of Ontario. Oh, nice. The Kawarthas. Say that again. Kawarthas. Never heard of the co-orthos. Before I jump into this story, can I tell you a crazy sidebar story? Yeah. Monica, you're going to hate this. Uh-oh. Is it like a vagina? Mouse or vagina related? Or a mouse in a water bottle. A few weeks ago, I get a call from my sister-in-law and her and my three nieces, my youngest niece likes to play in their van. And so all the three of them are in there.

51:34And all of a sudden, my middle niece says, Mom, why is that cup moving? Because her little sister was playing with this reusable mug. Any guesses what was inside the mug? Rat water bottle? No. A rat water bottle? No. Oh, my God. I was joking. Number two. This is crazy. This is pandemic level now. This is, you guys, check your water bottles. The lid was on, I guess, if she was playing with it. The lid was on. The lid was on. What did they do? Did they turn into squids and liquefy and pour themselves in and reconstitute? They can remove their ribs and stuff. Ugh. Ugh. That's so disgusting. I know.

52:19And also, I thought that was like a one in a million story when I heard that. And now I'm like, oh, these rats are just infiltrating our vehicles. Oh. Fuck, dude. Oh, my God. Disgusting. All right, well, now everyone can resume their terror. Okay, so my story takes place back in 2022. It was the May 2-4 long weekend, which is the first long weekend of the summer in Ontario. So tons of people go out camping, go up north, go to Muskoka. You're opening your cottages. And so my husband and I decide that we are going to go backcountry camping and we're going to bring our five-year-old daughter with us on this adventure.

53:09So we're meeting two of our friends there. So we drive to the Kuwathas. We drive on this very long logging road. So in the middle of nowhere, we park our cars and we start to portage. So we have our canoes, we have all our camping stuff, and we have to do this one hour trek to the lake where we're going to launch our canoes and go and find a camping spot somewhere. You Canadians get after it, man, because the other person we talked to had a lot of portaging. We've heard a lot of portaging lately. You Canadians are like, yeah, it's going to involve some canoeing to get to where we want to go. We're gluttons for punishment, you know, it's all part of the fun.

53:51So we get to the lake. Everything is great. The weather is beautiful. We launch the canoes. My beautiful daughter is leaned back in the canoe, her five-year-old self, and she says, Mom, this is just the best day ever. And so we're canoeing along, and all of a sudden, we hear thunder. So we're like, okay, we have to get off the lake. We start counting because that's an indication of how far away the storm is, and we figure we have about 12 minutes. So we're paddling along trying to get to the first bit of land that we see. Our canoe lands on the land. Within two minutes, it is raining aggressively and the winds are insane.

54:34So I grab a tarp and I put it over mine and my daughter's head and she's understandably terrified. And I'm like, no, this happens all the time. It's going to blow over quickly and we're going to be on our way and everything's okay. The storm came on so quickly that she didn't even have time to like take off her life jacket. So we're under this tarp and all of a sudden I hear a tree snap. And in my head, I'm like widow maker because that's what they call trees who fall on campers in the middle of the night and kill you. But I don't hear my husband or my two friends like screaming, saying like, get out of the way or anything like that.

55:16So I'm like, it's probably fine. I grabbed my daughter and kind of tuck her under me as much as I can. And within the same second, bam, a tree lands on my daughter and I. No! So the impact from the tree had to pull my daughter out of my arms. Oh my God. Like a loose football. Yeah. So in my head, I'm like, my daughter is dead and I brought her on this trip and now she's gone. I can hear my best friend screaming my daughter's name at the top of her lungs. And so I whip the tarp off of me. And by the grace of God, I hear my daughter say, mom. And I just look at her and I say, run. And I look over and my friend's husband was coming around and the look of terror in his eye, I was like, oh, this is bad.

56:10And so my daughter runs to him. I like hulk this tree off me, get up and start running, realize that the wind has been knocked out of me. So I'm like, you know, that feeling. Yeah, you're going to die. And I'm screaming, get under the canoe, because now I'm like, this whole forest is coming down on top of us. And my friend's like, Sam, we can't get under the canoe, because when Alex, her husband, was trying to pull it in, the wind was so bad that it lifted him off the ground. Oh, wow. We, again, are just hiding under a tarp, and I'm like, this is it for us. Like, we're done. Nice knowing you. So when the tree fell on me, my ankle popped out of the socket and then popped back in.

56:55So I'm injured at this point. Luckily, I think because my daughter was wearing her life jacket, it absorbed the impact of the tree falling on her and saved her life because it like protected her. Basically from beginning to end, it's five minutes. After the storm passes, I'm like, get me the heck out of here. We're going back to our car. This weekend is done before it started. I'm traumatized. You're pulling the rip-roar. We're done. And so we get back to the portage trail. And in my head, I have this like third degree leg sprain. I have no idea what just happened. I'm terrified. and I'm like, I just need to get to my car and go home.

57:36No, when we get back to the Portage Trail, it's literally like a giant stomped through the forest. The trail is completely gone. The forest is completely torn up. We have to like hike over and under trees to get back to our vehicles. Dragging this canoe the whole time? No, we left the canoes there. Oh, okay, okay. We were like, we'll deal with that after. Like, let's just get to our home base. We get back to the vehicles. It took us like two hours to hike back to them. We get back to the cars and there's no way we can drive it out. The logging trail is gone. The forest is destroyed. There's nothing.

58:15And I'm injured. So luckily, I had a tiny bit of service. I call 911 and they're like, yep, you're not the only one out there. We're sending a military helicopter to come pick you up. Wow. Wow. Oh. The military helicopter comes. They strap me to a board, strap my daughter on top of me. She instantly passes out from like shock and stress. What happened? It's called like a drench arrow. I always say it wrong, but it's essentially like a tornado, but it's a huge gust of air that's more like an arrow. Travels really far, really fast. and the radars can't really pick up on it the same way they do a normal thunderstorm or a normal tornado.

59:02And that's why there was no warning. Oh my God. Luckily, right before I get strapped into the bodyboard thing, I text my mom and I say, we're going to this hospital. Bless her soul, she drives four hours one way to pick me and my daughter and my husband up from the hospital. Our two friends had to stay there and hike out over like three days. Oh, my God. Because, again, the vehicles couldn't get out. Luckily, all I had was a sprain. My daughter didn't even have a scratch on her body. And then my husband and a group of his friends and our friends who were there with us spent the next three weeks chainsawing out the logging road so they could get our vehicles.

59:48Oh, my gosh. Gosh, this is nuts. Why didn't the military helicopters take the others? I mean, I know. Limited space. Yeah, but three days. Okay. They could have died also. All right, so we have some photos. Yes. Okay, I'm looking at one, someone in a blue jacket standing next to a tree that's fallen over. Is that the specific tree? No. Or just one of the bazillion? Yeah, this whole forest is leveled. Whoa. Oh. So there is one picture with a canoe and like a hat in it. Yes. I'm looking at it now. That's the tree that fell on us. Oh, boy. So we were under that. Oh, wow. And a tree fell on someone's car.

1:00:29Yep. My friend's vehicle. Oh, my God. Oh, wow. No shit three weeks. Yeah, there's a car covered in three fallen trees. Oh, my God. Yeah, you don't really hear about that kind of, you hear about tornadoes and cyclones. That's wild. Yeah. The military guy said to my husband, we're going back out because I think 22 people died from that storm from trees falling on them. So we had the best of a bad situation. Oh, well, Samantha, it's lovely meeting you. Yeah. Yes. Lovely meeting you too. Dax, I have to say, my mom passed away March of 2025 at the age of 62. Oh, I'm sorry. From a rare and aggressive type of breast cancer called metaplastic carcinoma, less than 1 % of people get this type of cancer.

1:01:16But I was her caregiver, just like you were with your dad. And your description of like the immediate aftermath of grief and feeling that moment of relief and your talk you had with Anderson Cooper, it just captures that specific experience of being a caregiver for a sick and dying parent so well. So I just appreciate you sharing and writing. And grief is very lonely, even if you're in it with siblings or other family members. It's so lonely and you just capture the experience so well. So I appreciate that. Oh, yeah. My pleasure. Thank you. And I'm so sorry. Yeah, thank you. She was the best. And Monica, please make another Beth's dead.

1:02:03We just might. I also have to shout out my son, Mason. He was very upset that this story involves his sister and not him. So Mason, Lila, I love you both. Thanks for chatting with us. Yeah, lovely meeting you. Have a great summer. Yes, you too. Bye. These trees are falling on people. The rats are in the... The rats are in the water bottles. The rats are in the drinking containers. The trees are falling. Happy summer. Happy summer. I never worry about trees. And here we go. I mean, they're coming down left and right. They really are. It's time to worry. We got to think about this because, as you know, every time we do one of these camping prompts, I want to go camping.

1:02:44But now I really got to eye the surrounding. Do some core samples. All right. Love you. Love you. Do you want to sing a tune or something? We don't have a theme song. Oh. Okay, great. We don't have a theme song for this new show. So here I go, go, go. We're gonna ask some random questions And with the help of our cherries We'll get some suggestions On the Flyer Rindish On the Flyer Rindish Enjoy