And we're having tornado warnings, along with very high winds (duh!) and perhaps damaging hail. Rain in the forecast for St. Louis tomorrow and Saturday while we are there (and outside the whole time).

Oh my gosh!
Please be careful and if you feel the least bit uneasy... cancel your trip.

_________________
Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

_________________
Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

_________________
"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

Craig, I saw the devestation on t.v. I hope you are o.k.

Tt

Craig, are you guys alright?

_________________
Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

_________________
Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

We are back, we are safe, and it somehow didn't rain on us in St. Louis!!!

And Laurel, St. Louis has the best bbq???? Are you insane?????

Craig from KC... I knew you'd get it!

_________________
Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

St. Louis Trip

As I mentioned before, as I worked Thursday night here in KC, we had some huge storms move through the area. Funnel clouds were spotted all around the metro, buildings were demolished around town, along with tons of rain, wind, and hail.

I left work downtown, and somehow the sidewalks and streets around me were dry. Kellie and I stayed at my parents house Thursday night, and as I got closer to their house, I saw tons of lightning, and huge rain puddles everywhere.

I went to bed about 12:30, and slept like the dead until I had to wake up at 5 a.m. I guess sometime between there, we had another round of huge storms, and the sky actually turned green - I have no idea what that implies.

All week these storms were predicted to be in St. Louis on Friday and early Saturday, right when we would be there. We left KC at 6 a.m. Friday to lots of storm clouds but no rain. About an hour into the trip, storm clouds still everywhere and still no rain, my mom made the comment that it would be sunny in St. Louis. We all laughed, and my dad said "In your dreams". My mom replied, "I can think happy dreams as easily as bad ones", and continued to mention every once in awhile that it would be sunny in St. Louis.

Just after 11 a.m., we drove past St. Louis into Pontoon Beach, Illinois, where our hotel was. The sky was still nothing but storm clouds, but with the exception of a 10 minute period of mist, we never got rained on during the drive.

As we were checking in, I saw a large picture behind the hotel clerk - it was downtown St. Louis in the midst of a huge thunderstorm, tons of lightning illuminating the skyline. I said, "boy, that's not what we need." The clerk responded, "Oh, you should be okay. The rain moved out at about 8 a.m."

As we headed to lunch before going to the racetrack, the sky, although still cloudy, was considerably lighter. It stayed that way as we arrived to the track. The sheriff, who was escorting fans across a busy road to the track, told us the storm had moved on north and we should be okay. It was looking better and better.

We hadn't been in the track for more than 10 minutes when patches of sun broke through. An hour later, the sky was clear. My mom, with a smug look on her face, told us "I told you it'd be sunny."

Another storm moved through later, but missed us to the south and the west. It soon became sunny again, and we got to see everything at the track until it was done about 9:30 p.m. Kellie and I each even got sunburns!

We woke up Saturday and went to breakfast, then on to the St. Louis zoo.
After the zoo, we went back downtown to the Riverfront, and had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, right next to the Arch.

We headed home a bit later, arriving back in KC about 9:30 p.m.

All in all, an odd but wonderful trip!