Tuesday, May 31, 2011

We had some CRAZY weather while driving back to CO yesterday

We were driving along i80 through Nebraska from Iowa where we spent the weekend (both Drew and I's youngest brothers were graduating from high school) when all of a sudden the clouds were super low. I was driving and the boys were both sleeping.

I had actually just taken this picture- trying to capture both my boys sleeping the same way. 

The first thing I noticed besides the low clouds (which I also tried taking a picture of) were horses in a field to my right just sprinting in a circle. Animals always seems to know when crazy weather is about to happen- and sure enough, within 3 minutes of seeing the horses running around, the wind picked up and it started to rain. 
clouds before the weather got crazy
I pulled over and told Drew it was his turn to drive since I HATE driving in the rain, and I'm So glad I did, because within minutes the rain got harder and our car was shaking HARD from the wind. We found a station talking about the weather, and the guy kept saying " Pull over and take cover, tornado warning and possible funnel cloud spottings" and then rambled off a town we had passed just minutes before. 

Freaking out hard core at this point. I jumped in the back to be next to jasper while Drew kept driving. This probably sounds dumb, if the weather guy is telling you to get cover, you get cover. But the thing about driving through Nebraska with 37 miles to the nearest town- there IS no cover. So our options where to keep driving, trying to outrun the storm which was moving at an alarming rate, or pull our car over to the side of the road, and waiting it out next to miles and miles of fields. We chose try to out run it. 

I was praying HARD in the backseat, terrified. And having grown up in Iowa, where tornado watches and warnings were totally norm I am not usually afraid of them. We had a basement with rooms in the middle of the basement with no windows. I always knew what to do. But driving through tornado weather with no car or town in sight with my son in the car? Was down right terrifying. 

All of a sudden, the weather guy stopped talking and gospel music came on. I felt immediately at peace, which sounds crazy, but all of a sudden I was calm. And then the wind died down and the sun came out. 


2 comments:

  1. How scary! That's how it's been here in Missouri off and on for the last several weeks. I can't imagine driving in that stuff through Nebraska! Glad you made it home safely.

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  2. That is nuts! Glad you guys are ok!

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