Trip to the Capital City

Since a tornado watch was in effect, we had to think twice about making a trip to our capital city last Tuesday. On Monday, I couldn't decide if I should cancel my dental appointment there or not. To cancel, though, would mean I couldn't get another appointment for several weeks.

Also, my 85-year-old mother didn't want to make the trip, and I was edgy about leaving her and our elderly dog at home alone. Finally, though, at Mother's urging, we decided to just go ahead with our plans and hope for the best. If the weather kicked up early in the day, we'd head straight back home.

So Tuesday morning (Super Tuesday), the three of us went first to our polling place to vote. Then we dropped Mother off at home and headed out. We got to the big city around 10 a.m., in time to shop before lunch. My appointment was at 2 p.m. Of course, I called Mother before that to check on her, and she said everything was fine. So far, there were no storms.

We were able to get on the road ahead of heavy afternoon traffic, and arrived home at 4:30 p.m. Around 5 p.m., the sky darkened and looked ominous. There was lightening in the distance, and there was wind, but nothing more.

During the next couple of hours, while watching the TV storm tracker, we learned that several communities had been hit by tornadoes but, because it was dark by this time, damage reports were sketchy.

In the meantime, we'd heard nothing from our ballroom dancing instructor to know if classes were cancelled that night, and after trying without success to reach her, we trekked downtown at 7 p.m. to see. Sure enough classes were, thankfully, called off.

So we spent the rest of the evening watching storm reports, and didn't retire until we saw that the violent front had exited the state.