Cheryl and Ethan Vs The Tornado!

Greetings from the HyVee Free WIFI Parking lot!   I should first mention that the big news this week was that Cheryl and I cut the cable....  Literally.   We ripped our Router out of the wall and handed it back to the guys at MediaCom.  It is a long story for another post...  But I'm sure you will get a good understanding if you read these past posts....

Now, on to the Movie! 

Ready to run

clear skies

You may not have heard about it, but apparently,  Iowa City had an "incident" with a Tornado.  Normally,  whenever a barn burns down, it becomes tomorrows headline. But this is one story where Cheryl and I had an Active Role in....

Monday, (The same day we cancelled the internet.)  Cheryl and I went out for a run/bike at our favorite place in Iowa City.  We were feeling pretty anxious over the whole cable thing, so both of us wanted to run a little of that energy off.   Let's Run!

clouds?

Whoa!

Nothing fancy,   nothing unusual.   I did find a couple of fall Puffballs on the ride and stopped to pick them up.   About 3 miles in ( The farthest point from the car...)   My phone starts buzzing and ringing with an Emergency Weather Alert!   How wonderful.   I tell Cheryl about it and she thinks it is a hoax.   The skies are blue and there are no clouds.   And besides,  she has run in the rain before.  She only needed 4 more miles.

Cheryl changes her mind.

There is something about that color.

But then we turn a corner and the dark skies that were hidden behind the trees reveal themselves!   We get a little closer and the sirens of Iowa City begin to blare....  all three of them!

Looks Ominous

Cheryl does a quick rethink and decides maybe we should head back to the car.... just in case.   The greenish color from under the clouds hints that there may be some merit in the alert. 

Is that cloud...twisting?

The wall approaches

We can see the wall of clouds coming towards us with a spiral note to them.   I don't see any funnel clouds, but there were rumors of sightings...somewhere.   And no one wants hail damage on their Silver Bullet Subaru!

Bring on the rain!

At least we are near Hyvee

We load the bike, towel off and climb into the car seconds before the rain hits us.   Lots of rain!    We decide to head to the only place where we  might be "safe" ... and be able to refill our drinks for our return home.  It is important to stay hydrated after a run.

Check Weather

Warning ends at 6:30

Cheryl checks her phone and we find out the storm will only last another 15 minutes.   We choose to park near the building, but not to close so "just in case" any roof parts fly off.   With fresh images of Marshaltown in our heads, we choose NOT to park under the gas pump station.   Even though it may protect us from hail, it may also crush on top of us.  We roll the dice.

Weather map....RED!

Sounds kinda bad.

Everything seems fine.   Cheryl checks out the weather channel to see what this thing looks like.  I count down the minutes until it passes. 

Cheryl looks happy.

wasn't there a building there a second ago?

And then the wind picks up.   The visibility drops!  The car begins to rock and the mirrors on the Subaru push inwards!   I'll admit, for a moment there,  I was actually a little scared.   Cheryl kept ranting about the dangerous airbag that Subaru keeps warning us about....  Who cares about that when the entire car might be scratched!

Inside the Hyvee "Safe House"

After storm damage.

We wait for a break in the action and make a break for the Gas station door.  One of the attendants was near the door waiting for us to gain the courage to leave our car.   We looked back and saw that the area under the pump station was filled with other people caught out in the storm.   After getting SOAKED!  We headed inside and the employees pushed us into the interior boiler room.  A few moments later,  we hear a very loud earth shattering kaboom!   Thunder?   Nope.   The building next to us collapses.

A narrow miss for the Subaru!

Careful of the debris

After about 20 more minutes, the entire thing blows over.   We head outside to check out the damage.   The building wall had missed Subie by just a few feet!  If I had parked any closer, my bike and the roof of the car would have been crushed!   I was very thankful!

watch out for Spikes!

Cheryl removes the nails.

  We still had to be careful since the parking lot was littered with shrapnel.  No one wants to change any tires in the rain.    I made Cheryl get out and clear the path.  ( She might be small and skinny, but she is strong.... and loves the rain.)

She loves the rain.

Our return home is flooded.

 We pile into Subie with Fresh drinks in hand and head out.  Our return trip, hindered by flooded roads.

Here comes the Sun

Right in front of us.

All the way home,  Sun!  Oh Sun,  Where were you 20 minutes ago?   Cheryl has to shield her eyes as we head straight into the rays.   I was concerned that perhaps our apartment might have been hit, but nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Blinding Cheryl

Rainbows!

One final note,   A rare and spectacular rainbow appeared when we finally got home.   The colors were so sharp that the spectrum began to fold back over onto itself!   If you looked carefully,  you could see three rainbows. ( ok,  2 and a half.  After the purple,  the red part was really faint.)  But you can definately see the two!

Two..(and a half...if you look for it.) 

I guess this means we survived?

Pretty!

So we survived...  that was last Monday.  And I just now get to explain that litle adventure because we cut the cable the same day.   Oh the Timing of it all.    From now on I am going to have to plan my blog postings a little more in advance.   We shall see how things go.   Maybe this will be good for me.  Since the Internet was way to expensive; Kept me depressed; And was run by a terrible company.  I say good riddence!  I don't know how soon we will get it back, but for now, I think I will enjoy the peace and quiet.    Thanks for stopping in.