storm-chasing...in reverse

last thursday night was a bit, shall we say, exciting. i was driving home from work in fargo around 5 o'clock, and the radio suddenly informed me that a tornado warning was in effect and would be 9 miles north of barney at 5:10pm...(quick math - our house is TEN miles north of barney...hmmmm).

i called DH and discovered that he was also in the middle of tornado alley (but he, of course, is much less concerned about this than i am;)!)...his first line was "go back to fargo"...but i, being so wise and all-knowing, said "but honey, i'm already at kindred!" DH is quite patient with me, and then suggested that i keep heading south (past our exits) and go to my mom & dad's house (a brilliant plan, in hindsight).

i followed DH's plan...sort of...i got to the galchutt exit (31) and thought that maybe if i pulled off and waited a bit, the storm would track north of me and then i could cut across and get home. a state trooper was parked on the exit ramp, but he was "just watching the storm" with a big smile on his face, not closing any roads:). i hung a left and parked on the northbound ramp (don't ask, i still don't know what i was thinking) and decided to watch the storm for awhile...

Then DH called again to find out where i was...i admitted that i was at the galchutt exit, and he said, 'honey, the storm's coming right at you, and the BIG hail is right behind those wispy clouds!'...so i headed south again...and everything got pitch black and scary...but when i hit the weigh station, it was SO bright that i thought i was glowing...anyways, i really did intend to go straight to mom & dad's, but after a few miles heading east on Hwy13, i thought i could maybe cut around the storm by going back west and getting home from the south...needless to say, a few miles from barney there was a new tornado warning coming right. at. me. EEK! i turned right back around and got chased by a big scary DARK wall of tornadoey stormness and somehow made it to mom & dad's (where, i discovered, dad had been working on the lawn mower in mom's garage spot, so i had to shove some metal around in order to get my little car in!)...i stayed there by myself for an hour and then headed back home, where i passed a semi on the interstate that had been flipped over by the wind:S...the hail in our neck of the woods was crazy, and just to prove it, DH took a picture (after 20 minutes of melting, mind you) for you: