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Archive for May 21st, 2008

Ok, it wasn’t hurricane, it was more of a tornado watch, but that doesn’t have quite the same zing as my title…

In keeping with my cycling, I headed out for a quick trip. Well, nature seemed to have different plans and a large storm was starting to come together. Undaunted, Donna and I headed out thinking we would stay close to the house and dart back if in the rain came. We were closing on a quick 3 miles when the tornado watch sirens starting going off, the wind really started to pick up and a few drops come barreling down.

We were right at the entrance of the neighborhood so we headed back in and we stayed right in front of the storm the whole time. You could really start to see the clouds getting black and hear the thunder off in the distance; that low grumble that starts to rattle everything like a train coming at you.

The sirens kept going off and people started to come out to see what kind of situation was brewing. Fingers pointed at the sky and the trees as we kept rolling. I did see a couple of “swirls” in the clouds, which of course took me back to my days in Colorado where I watched plenty of tornadoes form and drop down out of the sky. I also remember when I lived in Nebraska how my Dad and I watched a tornado form overhead and the funnel came down and cut a path in a cornfield off in the distance. The clouds were dark and they spun quickly overhead. It’s not something you see very often, and not something you stand under, but there I was with swirling clouds of the tornado right above me. Foolish, yes, but something I still remember.

Donna and I pulled into the driveway as the wind started to whip up and the cold rain was just starting to come down. There were all the signs of something dangerous about to happen, and the rain and thunder seemed to drive home the point. But within a couple of minutes it all subsided and disappeared.

I guess the tornado had somewhere else to be…