Day 4 - Tornados and other Kansas treats

I work up at 3:15 am this morning with a plan to hit the roads by 4:00 am and get to Denver by 2 pm. But before I even got out of bed I saw a flash of lighting and heard the thunder. My phone started making the emergency broadcast sound and I was being warned that I was in a flash flood zone. Stephanie, Dan and I (who were all leaving and heading in opposite directions) turned on the TV to the Weather Cannel and this is what we saw:

It was wicked outside so I made the easy decision decided to wait an hour and see how things looked then. I took a quick nap and when I awoke the storm looked like I could skirt south of it so I packed my bags and loaded the bike . Suddenly, as I was finishing up, the emergency broadcast sound came on again and this time it was warning us that we were under a Tornado warning! So we looked at the TV again and this time this is what we saw:

That red is all Tornado warning but I was anxious to get going and besides, what does Kansas know about tornadoes, right? So I decided to go for it and head out. I backed my bike out of the garage, lost my footing in the water and my bike went down for the first time this trip. Because of the incline it was not too bad and I was able to get Sally back up on her tires by myself and so I waved goodbye and headed into the storm. The first 20 miles were hell.

It poured hard and  the skies looked very ominous. There were these strange black clouds that looked to be ignoring the wind and going in their own direction.   The lightening frequent and was lickin' the ground all around me and the thunder was VERY loud!!  But I kept going. Sally hugged that road tightly and finally we pushed through the storm when we (Sally and me) hit Lawrence KS. We got out from under the last of the clouds once we reached the Flint Mountains and the sun was on me at last. Suddenly I was in perfect weather and it stayed that way until I reached Denver. I ended this crazy day sun burned!

It was a 617 miles total today and when I got to my destination I was spent but when I saw Amalia (my daughter) come running out to greet me and I was suddenly full of energy again. I showered and then went to CostCo for some housewarming gifts:

(Amalia on the left with her friends Amy and Nancy)

We got back from dinner and now I'm off to bed. Tomorrow Mike Hall is coming!! I am really looking to seeing him and heading into the Colorado mountains! It's going to be beautiful! 

Goodnight from Denver!