We made it over the boarder of Colorado into Kansas last night. We thought we had ten more hours to drive but Andy re checked the map and it’s only six. That’s a very exciting development for me. We’re stopping in an hour to bet the one o’clock games, make some phone calls and eat.

This morning I woke up at six and had to pee. Unfortunately, we didn’t park close to any trees or bushes so I had to walk across the parking lot, through a wet field to a pile of crates and shrubs. As I decided that this place was appropriate, turned, pulled down my sweats, squated and was face to face with a Rottwiller. Okay, he was thirty feet away, but I could see his face, and he could see mine.

I made a few scrabbley, crab like, pants hampered foot slides so I was more behind a bush so we wouldn’t be face to face and figured that I should just pee now. If the dog attacked me, I didn’t want to be caught with my pants around my ankles, and or running screaming back to the van while peeing.

So I did, and stood up and the dog was gone.

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We caught up to the storm we left in Denver. While driving down I-70 the weather was sunny and bright. We rounded a curve and were plunged into complete blackness. I have never seen clouds like the ones I saw today. They were low and brooding, but brooding doesn’t even describe it well. I felt like maybe the gates of hell were opening, and we were at the front door.

It seeemed like I could almost touch the sky, or at least the telephone poles could. The clouds began to spin in a circle like water going down a drain. Darkness was everywhere except in the emptiness of the swirl, where light was shining down. It looked very apocalyptic. I confirmed with Andy the procedure if we were actually witnessing the birth of a funnel cloud, or if we experienced any others. The consensus was to abandon the van and jump into the ditch, or just stop, since the storm was moving away from us.

Making the four o’clock bets was a little dicey since we couldn’t get a proper cell signal but we’re at four bars pulled off on the side of the highway off ramp watching the storm move away from us towards Kansas. The problem now is that portions of I-70 are closed, and the storm is ahead of us going forty miles an hour. I feel that our two hours outside of Kansas may be extended. Everyone is parked on the side of the road, milling around and talking on their cell phones watching the storm leave, and waiting for the standing water to recede. AM radio is telling everyone to stay home, and that although there have been no tornados spotted, the conditions are right.

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We just arrived in Kansas to lightning, torrential rain and tornado sirens.