Today started off swell. We slept in a bit, Bob sang “On The Road Again” to Coda right before we left, and 10 minutes later when we were on the road, the song came on the radio. We stopped for lunch a while later and let the pets out for their walks. Lola the cat has a leash and thinks she is a dog and enjoys being outside most of the time. I found a 4 leaf clover while wandering around with the cat, which should have meant good luck… more about that later. It was about 85 degrees out with more humidity than should legally be allowed to affect my hair, and after 5 minutes of being outside Lola had enough, ran for shade, plopped down into a sprawled out heap and started panting.

She usually fights me when I try to stick her in her cat carrier, but under the hot circumstances, she was thrilled to be back in the air conditioned car.

Several hours later we were coming up to Kansas City, Missouri which is actually a very cool looking city. Shortly after we passed that, we entered Kansas. Almost immediately a warning came on the radio with a severe thunderstorm alert, possible hail the size of quarters, and tornado warnings.

There was lightening all around us, and the sky was constantly lit up. I actually got several pictures of lightning bolts because there were so many. At one point, the lightening got so bad I felt even the tiniest hairs on my face stand up, and I knew it was time to pull over. We found a rest stop and as soon as we pulled over, it started down-pouring. Horizontal rain with 70 mph gusts of wind. Our truck was shaking from the wind and from the loud thunder right above us. We were listening to weather updates on the radio and suddenly the radio went to static.

Bob’s Best Scared Face

I called my mom to say goodbye in case the opening scene from the Wizard of Oz took place and I may have ended up like the wicked witch. After waiting the storm out for half an hour, we started heading to our hotel about 15 miles away. So much for the 4 leaf clover bringing any luck…

We arrived at the hotel, but it took 30 minutes to park the dang truck and trailer. I wasn’t exactly the best navigator trying to tell Bob where to go to back-up to park. Luckily, a dude with a mustache came by to assist. I knew Bob was in good hands because in Kansas, a mustache=trucker, which means he knows how to navigate big vehicles. I had the guy at the front desk of the hotel promise to notify us if a tornado was really coming. He probably thought I was a big baby but assured me that alarms would sound if an emergency took place.

What a day. We’re alive and sleepy and excited to get to Colorado tomorrow!