Toto, I Don't Think We're In Kansas.......

We set off on a grand adventure on the 23rd of May and drove across country with Carolyn & Dustin and Avery, Maren, & Ryan to visit Monica & James and Eliza & Laney in Champaign, Illinois.  What we didn't realize was what an adventure it would turn out to be.

                                                

Friday, May 23 & Saturday, May 24, 2008:

We drove from Salt Lake City across Wyoming, through Nebraska, across Iowa, and into Illinois.  The adventures started before we hit the Wyoming/Nebraska border.  (Now remember my first name is Dorothy and there was another person named Dorothy who had issues with tornados -- but she was in Kansas.)  Somewhere on I-80 (heading west after passing Laramie & Cheyenne, Wyoming) between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the border of Nebraska, it started to rain and we hit a thunderstorm like we've never seen before.  Then the hail started to come down.  It was so loud when it hit the van that we could hardly hear ourselves talk, and you couldn't see very far on the road.  (I have a video, but haven't figured out how to download it.)  Cars were slowing down to a crawl and pulling off to the side of the road.  We saw other cars taking shelter under overpasses.  Roger was driving and pulled in behind a semi-truck and stayed behind him for some shelter as we continued down the road at a slow crawl. 

The clouds were thick and stacked and greenish-looking.  Everything around us shouted "tornado!"  We were watching the clouds around us and prayed that we wouldn't find ourselves caught in the path of a tornado.  I don't know how long we traveled like that, but it seemed like forever. 

Finally, the hail quit and, although it was still raining quite hard, things started to change for the better.  We said another prayer - this time in gratitude. 

I thought it was a little ironic that the sign welcoming us to Nebraska said "Nebraska...the good life".  

When we got to Sidney, Nebraska, we decided that we needed a break.  There was a Cabello's (a store for outdoor enthusiasts) just off the freeway exit, so we stopped there and took the "kids" in to see the animals that they have displayed in the store. 

 

The first thing we heard when we got inside was the radio at the cashier's counter broadcasting a tornado warning.  We were only in there for a few minutes when the storm caught up with us again and started pounding the roof of Cabello's.  We wandered around the store for awhile until the storm seemed to have calmed a little. We talked with the cashier for a few minutes about what our options were and what precautions we should take and then we headed out into the rain again. 

Our original plan had been to go all the way across Nebraska on the first day and spend the night in Lincoln.  However, because of the storms there was no way that we could get that far.  So we canceled our motel in Lincoln and, with Monica's help via cell phone, found one in Cozad, Nebraska.

We pulled into Cozad around 10:30 p.m. and, although the town isn't very big, we couldn't see our motel anywhere.  As we drove through town, we drove through some water covering the road, then up over an overpass, and then realized that we were out of the business area.  So we turned around, went back over the overpass, and started through the water (which was now a little deeper) again.  There were no street lights, and as we went through, the water splashed up on the window and Dustin couldn't see the road.  The van hit the median in the middle of the road (which was now hidden by the water).  We hit hard and the front tire on the driver's side blew out.  Dustin had to drive about half a block on the bad tire and turn into a Pizza Hut parking lot to get off the road.  He and Roger got out to assess the damage and it didn't look good.  I went into Pizza Hut (which was closed, but by some miracle the door didn't shut tight when they locked it) to see if we could get a taxi to the motel (yeah, I know that wasn't being realistic - just hopeful).  No luck, but one of the employees said her husband would drive us to the motel.   We loaded up our luggage and all seven of us and he took us down the road about three blocks to our motel.   Thank goodness for small town helpfulness! 

We watched the weather channel that night at the motel and found out that there were several areas with tornado warnings and watches going on - including our area.  Windsor, Colorado, had tornadoes the day before and tornadoes had touched down during the storms we were driving through -- three tornadoes touched down around Laramie, Wyoming -- I think it might have been the same storm, only behind us and after we passed through Laramie.  (Roger read this, and we figured out that the storm probably hit Laramie with the tornadoes before we got there, but we didn't know because it was on the north side of Laramie.  Then we caught up with the storm between Cheyenne and the border of Nebraska.) In Utah, we love thunderstorms and rain because it brings the moisture we need.  In the Midwest, thunderstorms take on a whole new meaning because they bring tornadoes.

Another small miracle, there was an auto tire center right across the street from Pizza Hut.  So Dustin called first thing in the morning (Saturday, the 24th) and explained the situation.  Then he and Roger walked down to the Pizza Hut.  The tire was already off the van and being worked on by the time they got there.   Dustin had to buy two new tires for the front, but we were back in business.   Oh, and by daylight, you could see that Pizza Hut was surrounded by water -- except the end of the parking lot where the van was parked!  (That's a fire hydrant at the right of the picture.)

The area had 3 inches of rain on Thursday and 8 inches of rain out of the storm that we drove through on Friday.  In the dark, we didn't realize that we were in the middle of a flood! 

We weren't sure what to expect, but Saturday turned out to be sunny and nice across the I-80 corridor all the way to Champaign, Illinois.  We stopped outside of Omaha, Nebraska to visit the Winter Quarters Visitors Center and see the temple.  The tour guide had Avery & Maren dress up like pioneer children and as we took the tour, she gave them things to do which kept them entertained.

 

 

 

We made it to Monica & James' home by 1 a.m. Sunday morning.  We were pretty tired, but happy to be there.

To be continued................(Dorothy & friends weren't out of Oz yet.)