Storm in Caprock Canyons

We had a stormy night at Caprock Canyons State Park — tornadoes in the vicinity stormy. But, before I get to that, some background.

On the way to the campground we stopped at a Lowe’s (not the home improvement chain, a local small grocery chain). I came across a big pack of beef back ribs at a good price. A couple days later, I set out to cook them. About 3:30 pm I began by prepping the charcoal: I poured my hardwood briquets into a chimney, added some lump mesquite charcoal on top, then lit a starter haystack underneath it. About 20 minutes later, I had the hot charcoal spread out on one side of the grill, creating a direct and indirect zone. Normally I then sear both sides of the seasoned ribs four or so minutes per side then move them uncovered to the indirect side. Later I’ll loosely wrap them in pink butcher’s paper with a little bit of barbecue sauce and continue cooking on the indirect side. Near the end, they get removed from the paper and put over the direct side to caramelize the sauce. Overall, they spend 2 – 2.5 hours on the grill.

I only mention my cooking process because of what happened near the beginning. I’d just begun the sear phase when our neighbor came over and said, I’m sure you already know, but they issued a tornado warning. I said I didn’t know, thanks. She went on to tell me she’s going to bring in her room slides and be prepared to get out if they need to.

I flipped the ribs, and, looking around at the dark clouds invading the blue skies above us as I walked to the coach, went and told LeeAnn. After doing so, I wondered why I didn’t get an alert on my phone. Turns out is was only a watch not a warning. We decided to pick up most of our stuff outside and bring in our slides partially (high winds might be stressful on them when fully extended).

Of course, I continued cooking. I had the grill set up under a casita with a slanted tin roof and a windbreak on one side, so I figured I would be okay when the rains came. After all, I’d already began cooking. I could have stopped and restarted cooking them the next day, but it would not have come out as well. So I pressed on. Priorities.

The rain came, and the wind was whipping, but I was mostly staying dry. I like the rain. It was kind of fun. Then some of the rain sounded like it was hitting awfully hard – pea size hail was the culprit. I thought it was kind of cute, until the nearly ping-pong sized hail came down. Some made into the casita and stung my legs.

Once there was a break in the hail, I decided to come in a bit and confer with LeeAnn. We made plans for getting the campground’s bathhouse if need be (the most solid shelter available). I then returned to the ribs.  

I was able to finish the ribs properly. We enjoyed them in the comfort of our coach while the rain and hail fell. The coach came through unscathed, although the Kia picked up a bunch of small dents on the roof. We received about 1.75 inches of rain, and the ribs were delicious.

Next day, our neighbors asked LeeAnn what was so special that I was out there in those conditions cooking. It sounds like they wouldn’t have continued cooking. I don’t know why.

The sun sets below the clouds during a time of calm between storm waves.