Danny's new dream job - Stormchaser

Okay, so let me tell you about our first full day in Kansas -
Sunday. It was a stormy day. We have church at 11:15. By the time we got out of church it was super dark and rainy. When we got home we turned on the news to find we had a tornado warning in our county! Ahhh. This is when you're supposed to go hide in the dark, windowless bathroom (since we don't have a basement). Well, we didn't. We were so dang tired, we just took a nap on the couch. Don't worry, the tornado had already past us. By the time we woke up from our nap it was time to go to dinner; we were invited by a family in our new ward! So we check the news again and we had another tornado warning. This time, it was relatively close and heading right for us, or rather, right for where we were going. I was nervous to go. The tornado, which touched down briefly, was only 15 miles west of us. We called our new friends and they said we should be okay, so we went. CRAZY!!!
As we got closer to their house, the sky became increasingly darker. A giant black wall was bulldozing toward us, as we drove toward it. I was praying, hard. The fifteen minute drive seemed like forever, but we finally made it. We pulled into the driveway and we jumped out of the car just as the cascade was liberated from heaven. It was like slow motion. I saw every droplet just before turning away to be drenched over every inch of my backside. The tornado was wrapped in rain. Very dangerous, and unpredictable, even for professional Stormchasers (there really is such a job)!
We were soaked the rest of the night, even as the rain and wind continued to whip the house. I was scared to go home. It wasn't letting up, but we had to get home before the streets got flooded. So again we braved the storm. Gutters were overflowing. The streets were flooding. We were driving through inches, maybe a foot of water. Stopped at a stoplight – the whole road was moving. Going again. The car next to us hits her breaks as gallons of water wake onto our car. It’s getting worse as we go. On the freeway, cops block parts of the flooded road to prevent cars from hydroplaning. Finally we make it home, flip on the news. They had just closed the road we were on due to 2 feet of pooling water. We drove through it!!
So, is it a miracle we survived our first day in Kansas?? I should think so. Next day – reported rain total for Wichita…5.61 inches! Wow.
http://affiliate.kickapps.com/_20090426170846mpg/video/626080/33096.html
Here is a link to a video of our tornado that someone sent in to the local news station. Sorry I couldn't upload it to the blog.

New Adventue

Well, I have put off blogging long enough. I decided to give in, in order to document our new adventure. For those of you who don't know, Danny will be selling home security systems this summer, in Kansas and Oklahoma! Last week was super crazy with all the preparations to head out there (ie - trying to pack half our house into our little car), but things are settling down now that we're here!
We left Wednesday night for Denver, about 10pm, after a day full of packing and lots of last minute goodbyes. We thought Azilyn would do better on the long drive if she were sleeping. Well, the 8 hour trip to Denver took like 10+ hours! She woke up 2-3 times, the load on our roof was shifting, we were exhausted! It was a very long night. But, we made it and slept all day Thursday. We went downtown Denver on Friday with our friends, who's house we crashed at, and headed on the road again Saturday morning.
The drive across Kansas was long too. We got sick of I-70, so we got off on a little highway that cut down to Wichita, where we'll be staying for 5-6 weeks. This was the best choice. It was much more relaxed and scenic than the flat farmlands we'd seen the past several hours. On the country highway, we saw horse and buggy crossing signs. It was hilarious! The weather had forecast rain as we neared Wichita, but we only got a few sprinkles. There was quite a bit of lightning though - very beautiful.
Interesting things about our Kansas drive: You could tell where people live - amid the flatness, there would be a house/farm with a hedge of thick evergreens around it. I'm guessing this was either a wind or tornado break. Every town we passed had a cool four-legged water tower with the city name on it. Farmers here grow mostly wheat. Many don't use irrigation! It's amazing, some places actually get moisture, unlike Utah!