One scary night in Kansas

We
were driving from Nashville, Tennessee to Colorado. Due to a heat wave across the South we decided to take
the most direct route and cut straight through Kansas on I70. After we
crossed into Kansas my husband asked if I knew anything about the state.
Jokingly I said, "No, except I've seen The Wizard of Oz". I70 from the Turnpike to Topeka would be our first ever toll road. Who knew that this day would
be our first for a whole lot of things.



As we drove on the wind
started to pick up. Drizzle began to fall in the sky got darker. We saw
the most spectacular lightning display in the distance, across the horizon. Our only
concern was trying to capture the perfect photograph. The rain and the wind got
very intense, and the sky went dark. At the end of the toll road there
was a note on the toll booth that read, " No Toll. Find Shelter". We explained to
the kid battening down the hatches of the toll booth that we were from California and
understood earthquakes, but had no clue what to do in a tornado. He gave
us a quick tutorial, and said we would have no problem because the
tornado was behind us. Wow... was he wrong. All of the weather
conditions became worse. We could not see where to go.  Driving speed
was now down to about 20 mph. It seem like we were the only ones left on
the road. There were very few buildings and nothing but open space. Not
even an overpass. Our radio and the cell phones were going crazy.
"Tornado Danger – Get Low! Flooding Danger – Get High"!!!



Suddenly,
we saw light off in the distance. My husband said, "That is where we
are going". It was a small truck stop filled with more trucks then I have
ever seen. The trucker that we pull behind said something that I will
never forget and actually made me cry, "You are safe now, my truck is
not moving until the morning". Eventually we were packed in like
sardines, and I never slept better.



The morning was quite
surreal. The sun came up and birds were singing. We saw the trees that
actually blew up from the lightning strikes. We saw the freeway signs
that were twisted like pretzels. There was a semi truck that was mangled
in the ditch. And then there was someone on an overpass
waving and American flag, because oddly enough it was the anniversary of
9/11