“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!”
—Matt
Watch where you drop
NW Ohio & NE Indiana’s historic terrain has left us with relatively flat and productive soil after the settlers. It would be a dream combination for many places in the world, like the steeply mountainous and volcanic rock that typifies where I live overseas.
Not only is flat and productive topsoil great for crop production, but also in tempering the hazards of heavy rainfall. Topsoil absorbs moisture and flat lands moderate the speeds of the over accumulation of rainfall.
An hour of heavy rain where we live overseas can mean racing flash floods as water doesn’t absorb into rock. In the rural areas torrents of water rocket down mountains that loosens and pulls along everything in its path. In urban areas, water overwhelms the sewer systems lifting the manhole covers for excess water to escape onto the streets. I have learned to stay inside after misjudging how little rainfall it takes to lift manhole covers in a storm. I now avoid traveling by motorcycle during and after heavy rain as manholes without the covers are very dangerous as you drive along a street that is water covered and you can’t determine where the hole is until you drop in.
Rain can even be dangerous to cars over here. We have a gravel parking lot along our apartment building in our neighborhood. However, only twenty or so spots are being used of the eighty spots there once were. I was walking to the grocery store after a few days of rain when I saw police and tow trucks in the neighborhood parking lot. I asked what the problem was and the police officer said, “Sink holes!” I thought, “What!?” They had built the gravel parking lot by filling in stone between and over large volcanic boulders along the hill. The heavy rainfall had shifted the smaller stones and fill and sink holes were appearing throughout the parking lot.
I have learned to look where I ride and even where I park.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story! Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
