Sunday - Rain, Thunder, Lightning and more Rain
An interesting day!
For a couple of weeks, I’ve been suggesting that we drive a little north of here and do a place called Kisakata as a tourist attraction. It’s a small town near Mt. Chokai and there are waterfalls, onsens, forests and museums to look at. I suggested it last weekend to F for this weekend, if the weather was okay.
Well, this morning, F got up late but took his mother to the onsen anyway. I was up and did some computer things and had my breakfast.
When F came back to the house, he suggested that we go to Kisakata today, even though the forecast was horrible. Okay then. Even though it was early, I suggested getting his mother a bento for dinner so that we wouldn’t have to hurry back. I don’t want her to be hungry or anything. We did that, along with some drinks for the road.
When I went out to the car for the grocery store run, it was raining. It rained while we were in the store and even afterwards. It calmed down for a bit, but when we were on the road, the full force of the rain hit us. The roads weren’t draining properly and the sides of the road had huge puddles. If someone passed us we couldn’t see the road for rain and splashing. It was scary. I suggested to F that we not continue, but he wanted to. We made a pitstop and he tried to reset the GPS. I asked him what he was setting it to. He wanted to go to the falls I had read about. The ones that we had to walk for 10 minutes through a forest to see them…no thanks.
We finally ended up at the Kisakata Service area and went to their food court. After lots of hemming and hawing on my part, I decided to have a hamburger, F had ramen. My burger was great. I was so impressed. It was well cooked and quite thick. The bun didn’t fall apart and it had a slice of tomato and a slice of onion grilled on it. It was the best burger I’ve had in ages. It came with a few fries and I added on a drink. F ate a few fries and that was fine.
After lunch, we were going to go to the ashi-yu or foot bath. However, we hadn’t brought our towels from the car. We had to go back and get them. We did, but I got completely soaked in the process. Then, when we got to the ashi-yu, lightning started and I refused to put my feet in. F did it anyway but was rather put out with me. He thought we were completely safe, I wasn’t convinced.
After a while, we left. I was in the car and was absolutely soaked. My pants were wet above my knee, my butt was damp, the back of my shirt was soaked and my feet felt damp, even though I don’t think they were. I actually ran the heater in the car for a bit so that I wouldn’t freeze. I’m a bit worried that I might get sick now as my throat has a bit of a tickle in it and I’m more tired than I should be.
We drove back towards Tsuruoka and the weather didn’t seem bad for a while, but then we hit another bad area or two. There was a part of Sakata city that seemed flooded, I’m sure the water was over half of our wheels. Around then I asked for a rest-stop and F went into the Aeon Mall and dropped me off just at the door. I only had to move about 3 feet and I got soaked again!
I went in, did my thing and met up with F again. I suggested a drink in the Mr Donuts so we had coffee and a doughnut there. Then I did a little wishful shopping in the craft area, and we checked out the hundred yen shop too. F bought something, I didn’t.
Over coffee, he’d suggested having dinner near the mall, so we did that. We went to Steak Miya and both had chicken. It was good. We added on soup and drink bar, so that was good too.
We came back from Sakata rather a strange route, something F had to work out for work one day. It was fine, just not what I expected.
At the house, we came in and upstairs. We didn’t see K at all. She was in bed and didn’t wake up. I took a shower a little late but needed it.
We’ve got some warnings on our phones about flooding, but it isn’t this area. I know someone who lives in that area, I hope she’s okay. The rain is continuing outside. It’s torrential at the moment and the map of Japan on the Japanese Meteorological site is still red for this area.
As long as we don’t get flooded out (and it’s very unlikely to happen) I’ll be here tomorrow night. F is off work tomorrow too, he talked about going back to Kisakata, but the weather forecast isn’t good. I’m not going back tomorrow, he can if he wants to…but I hope he doesn’t!
Until tomorrow....
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