We were able to say our goodbyes to our dear friends the Bartons before we left their house, a house we had been sharing with them for the past 2 weeks. I did cry a bit when Hosanna gave me a very sweet card and some chocolate...oh, how well she knows me!
We then met my sister, parents, and pastor for breakfast at Chick Fil A before we got on the road. Pastor Randy prayed with us and gave each of the kids some money to get a special treat. They decided they wanted to get Twizzlers when we stopped in Limon. I think they might spend a bit more of it tomorrow on ice cream. We'll see, so far it's been a bit cold for ice cream.
As we said goodbye to Aunt Kate, we did cry, I had a really hard time the whole time driving out on Woodmen to Hwy 24. I'll miss my sister, and I wonder...did I tell her often enough how much I love and appreciate her? Did I make her feel loved and needed? I'm not always the best at the "Words of Affirmation" that it seems so many people in my family (and life) need. I'm trying; but, it's still a work in progress.
It was a pretty uneventful day as we made our way East through Colorado and across the Kansas border. The kids loved the name of the border city, Kanorado... Very cute. A few quotations from the early part of the day... "I'm hungry", "Can we stop for a break yet"....Hmmm, think you might see where that is going.
We stopped for lunch in Goodland and then had our mid afternoon break in Hays. As we're leaving Hays, I call my TOG friend, Renita, in Wichita to make plans to meet her that night for coffee. A half hour later, she calls me again...I think "oh no, she's going to cancel"... She was actually calling to tell me about the horrible weather that we were driving into...tornadoes! Low and behold, as we are speaking, it begins to really start raining and the clouds close in and it gets dark, quickly! The next hour was extremely tense. We tried to stop; but, honestly, if you've ever driven I-70 between Hays and Salina, you know, there is nothing there and really no place to stop! We talked to a local guy and he said there was a break in the storms and to go for it. We did; but, it was scary - listening to the local weather guys talking and naming cities/areas to avoid that we were passing as they were talking about them. I'll never forget, we were passing the sign for "Sylvan Grove" and the guys on the radio are saying that a trained weather spotter just called in and saw a tornado touch down just south of Sylvan Grove and it was heading NE (the direction we were driving)...oh man, talk about stressful!
Thankfully, we made it through unscathed and pushed through all the way to McPherson for dinner without stopping. We really wanted to get past those storms!!!
There were more storms coming in that night and so Renita's husband felt it would be safer for her to stay home, so unfortunately, we didn't meet up. Maybe next time ;)!? We settled in for the night and all was well.
Day 1, done! Friday - driving to Little Rock...I'll let you know how that goes next!
Hmmm, think she was tired! This was right after lunch, from Goodland to Hays, KS.
Since it was quiet time for Sissi, I let the boys play their DS games...They were lost to me, so I sang along to some old 80's tunes on my iPod.
Ah, I recognize the looks on the boys' faces. We get those same looks of concentration when our boys play DS on long drives to Grandma's. Be safe. We're looking forward to seeing you soon!
ReplyDelete