This is going to be a fairly short post and although it is Wednesday, the events I am about to recount took place on Saturday so I think it more than qualifies for #beersaturday. Likewise, as you will see, the main character in this story is beer, so that should more than make it qualify.
I apologize I don't have a better picture than this snap I took of some of the offerings at one of our local party stores. You will soon find out why this generic photo has to do.
My wife and I do a fair amount of camping around the great state of Michigan in the warmer months. This takes us to any number of State Parks throughout the state and this past weekend it just happened to land us at Sleeper State Park in Caseville, MI.
Friday was a cold and blustery day so as soon as we arrived at camp and had the trailer (caravan) setup, we started a fire. Saturday morning was a little warmer, but still pretty similar in terms of weather. Quite windy. Luckily the rain held off and no storms passed through.
Later on Saturday night the wind had died down but it was still cold so we were gathering around the firepit as we often do when camping.
Suddenly, but from somewhere near the main road we heard a tremendous crack and then a crash. It sounded like a Styrofoam container had been smashed, but on a much larger scale. People from all over the campground started running towards the direction the noise had come from.
We thought at first it was an accident out on the main road, but we soon discovered that was not the case.
Apparently, a large tree branch weakened by the previous high winds had snapped off from about twenty to thirty feet in the air and fell on a fifth wheel trailer. It narrowly missed the main body of the trailer and instead ripped the awning off and demolished everything underneath it.
My wife and our friends ran over to take a look. I stayed back at our site with our dog. I asked my wife to make sure she had her phone, but she neglected to take pictures out of respect for the tragedy that had just occurred. Hence the generic picture.
They discovered that a man had been sitting under the awning only seconds before the limb fell. By some stroke of luck, he ran out of beer and had just gotten up to get a fresh beer when the branch wiped out the area where he had been sitting.
I said this was a parable right?
Beer Clearly Saves Lives
That is the moral of the story for today. The man was safe, his trailer could have been in far worse condition. The next day I was walking near the site and I noticed the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) had cleared away the branch. What was left of the awning had been removed from the trailer and was sitting near the road at his site with a sign that read "slightly used awning for sale or trade".
I am guessing a near death experience would lead me to look on the bright side of things and have a little more levity as well.
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All pictures taken by myself or @mrsbozz