Zonio Relocation Adventure: Day 2
Henry posted our first day’s adventure here, so I don’t really feel the need to write about it. However, I cannot write anything else about this trip without writing about Day 2 first.
We woke up in Eagan, MN. I didn’t sleep much in the weeks leading up to our departure from Thunder Bay, so I was really, really tired. I think we all were because it took us forever to get out of the hotel parking lot! I had hoped to pull out around 9:30; it was 11:30. And wouldn’t you know it: we needed to stop for gas. The U-haul takes forever to fill, but we happened to pick a gas pump that must’ve had molasses in it because that’s how slow it was moving.
Our next stop was the bank so we could deposit our equity cheque from the sale of our house. It was a certified cheque from a Canadian bank (Canadian dollars). Henry phoned last week to make sure we could have access to it immediately (for the deposit on our rental and for emergency money for our trip). Henry was told we would be able to pull out money – no problem. However, after being in the bank for 30 minutes, I saw Henry walk out with a frustrated look on his face. Because our account is new (we set it up during our California visit in May), we would have to wait 2-3 weeks to have it available to us. That was very frustrating! We both started worrying that we wouldn’t be able to make it to California because we wouldn’t have enough cash to get us there!
But we didn’t have time to sit around – we had a 10-hour drive ahead of us, and it was already noon! I was leading in the mini-van because I had the gps, so I pulled out and started making our way to Hill City, South Dakota, near Mt. Rushmore. Ten minutes or so into the drive, I noticed that the gps route was different than the google maps route I’d printed out back in Thunder Bay. I didn’t know which way to take! I wasn’t sure which route would be better for the U-haul (gas, winding roads, etc.) and which one was faster! Since it was lunch time, we decided to pull over and make our decision over lunch. We were still in Eagan, and it was 12:30! (Or was it 1:00?)
After we all ate lunch at Taco Bell (only $15!), we finally pulled out. We’d decided to take the gps route so I wouldn’t have to keep looking at a piece of paper. Besides, it seemed like the better route for the U-haul.
But I still hadn’t had any coffee at all that day, and I still felt like I’d been hit by a truck. Forty-five minutes later, I pulled into a McDonald’s to get some coffee because I was afraid I wouldn’t make it without some caffeine. It took so long for us to finally get out of that area!
The drive down to Albert Lea and along the southern part of Minnesota was nice. It was a really warm, muggy day, which contributed to everyone’s exhaustion and crabbiness, but the air conditioned car and the hum of the engine lulled the kids to sleep. I munched on sunflower seeds to give my hands something to do and to keep myself awake.
Right after crossing into South Dakota, I heard a weather alert on the radio for tornadoes! I had noticed the strange orange-green-brown colour of the sky, but the thought of tornadoes being that close was unnerving. I radioed Henry and told him to listen to the same radio station. A few minutes later, we heard a warning for flash floods for the area we were driving through. A few minutes after that, the warning was for “fatal” thunder storms known to produce “destructive,” walnut-sized hail. The skies were getting darker and darker, and we were driving right toward the storm! Soon rain started to hit our windshields, and I noticed lightning here and there. The weather report had said not to drive on roads that were covered in water, but I couldn’t even see the road from all the rain hitting my windshield! Then the hail started, and the lightning got closer. I kept radioing Henry, asking him what to do. (He spent a summer in Kentucky.) He said everything was fine, that if there were a real problem, the fifteen or so other cars on the road wouldn’t be out there. I didn’t agree. I said, “They’re not listening to the radio!! If we have a Wizard of Oz experience, I’m blaming you”
Once I was slowed to 25 mph and couldn’t see, I decided I couldn’t handle it. I was starting to shake and cry because it was only getting worse. A few times, the lightning flashed so bright in the skies directly ahead of me that I was momentarily blinded. As I pulled over, I saw a couple of lightning strikes less than half a mile away go from the sky to the ground.
By the time I was stopped, I was hyperventilating. I thought I was going to die, and I was mad at Henry for not being worried! He told me to just sit tight and make sure I was breathing properly. However, pretty soon, I noticed my hands and feet were tingling. “My hands and feet are going numb!” I told him. Henry said, “Just start moving them around. Get the blood flowing.” I’d never experienced that kind of fear before. The only time I’d hyperventilated was for a couple of breaths during the transition part of labour!
That actually woke me up to the fact that I needed to get my act together. I needed to get control of myself. I shook my hands and feet around for a while, and after a bit, I gained the courage to move forward. I pulled onto the highway slowly, and within 15 minutes, we were out of the storm, and it felt like nothing had happened.
We stopped for supper about 2 hours later, and Henry told me that he heard on the radio that a tornado had touched ground about 10-15 miles north of where we were. So I guess my fears weren’t completely unfounded.
We got back on the road, and the rest of that day’s drive was uneventful. The views were beautiful, especially the sunset. I told Henry, “I love South Dakota sunsets, but I don’t like their weather!” I decided that I never want to live in the midwest.
We finally pulled up to our hotel around 1:30am. I was so glad that day was over!
