JUNE 26
Madison, Wisconsin
I’ve never kept a journal before because let’s face it—I’ve never had anything this exciting to record before!
So I’m here in Madison, sharing a hotel room with Lana. She says it’s a two-star establishment, nothing great, and maybe it is a little run-down with peeling wallpaper and musty-smelling carpets. But who cares? We’re only here for one night, then it’s off to the next stop, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
But that’s tomorrow. Right now, my mind is buzzing with what happened today. The drive with Sam and Lana (fun), the ferry ride across Lake Michigan (fun, then a little boring because it was so loooong!), then the wait with Sam while Lana and Ray got their SUVs off the boat (even loooooonger!!). Ray suggested pushing on to Dubuque, but that would have been another few hours driving, so Lana, Sam, and I outvoted him. And here we are.
Ray is super cool, by the way. I could listen to his storm-chasing stories for hours—especially those that Lana’s in, which is most of them. They clearly adore each other, in a father-daughter kind of way.
Oh, jeez, that reminds me—Lana doesn’t have any family! Her parents were killed in a fire when she was in college, and she’s an only child. No aunts, no uncles, no living grandparents, either, and Ray was teasing her about being married to her work, so I guess that means she’s never had a husband (or wife…whatever!). Basically, she’s alone in the world except for Ray. And Sam and me now, too.
Oh, and the group that sponsored this trip, the LME Foundation? LME stands for Lana McElvoy. Apparently, she inherited a lot of money when her parents died. She used it to create the foundation, which helps fund science and engineering projects and stuff. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
Sam loves Ray—or at least, he loves Ray’s SUV, Mo West. It is unbelievable. HUGE and totally tricked out with the best storm-chasing gear like ham radio equipment (made a fool of myself laughing about “ham”—duh), two mounted laptops for GPS and SAT radar, cameras and lenses, binoculars, and a bunch of other stuff. Sam is a tech geek (who knew?), and he and Ray were babbling about the software and gear all through dinner. (Snore.)
Anyway, Lana says I should turn in now. So good night!
JUNE 27
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Another day of travel, this time about three and a half hours on the highway. Good cell phone service, even though it’s raining. I called home, figuring Andy would be bored, but Mom picked up. She said Andy wasn’t feeling good, so she’d taken the day off from work to be with him. I started to ask what was wrong, but she had to hang up because he was calling for her. I’ll try again later.
I texted with Mia a lot. She’s loving Texas so far. Says her aunt is pretty easygoing compared to her mom. (Anyone would be—Mia’s mom is wound up tighter than a drum.) The B-and-B has some guests, but no cute guys, so she’s disappointed. (Typical Mia!) She asked if Sam had made a move on me yet. Yeah, right, as if!! I texted an eye-rolling emoji, she sent back one with hearts, and we had an all-out emoji war until she had to go clean one of the guest bathrooms. Ew.
It’s been raining hard all day, and the desk clerk here at the hotel said it has been for three days straight. He sounded worried. Lana told me later that Cedar Rapids has had serious flooding problems in the past, so I guess that explains the guy’s concern.
I wonder if I should be worried, too.
JUNE 28
Quick note from the road
Up early. Heading north, following the storm. Strong winds. Ray and Sam are up ahead. Lana’s eyes are glued to their taillights. I’m watching for changes to the clouds and precipitation.
This is real….
JUNE 29
Charles City, Iowa
Yesterday was crazy! We followed the storm for a while, but nothing besides rain and wind developed, so after a few hours, we called it quits.
We were all hungry, so we stopped at a diner for lunch. While we were waiting for our order, Ray saw a brief radar-indicated tornado…we got in the car and rushed that way, but it was gone almost as soon as we turned out of the diner. We were bummed—Sam in particular—because if we’d kept going we might have seen it. But that’s how it is sometimes. The local storm report said it had been spotted, only briefly, by a local farmer.
That wasn’t the crazy part, though. We went back to the diner to actually eat and just as our food came out—BANG! High winds sent a tree crashing onto the hood of Lana’s SUV! The damage made it undrivable, so she had it towed to a nearby car shop. Unfortunately, it might not be ready for a day or two because a lot of the workers are already gone for the Fourth of July (almost forgot that holiday was coming up!). We can’t all fit in Ray’s truck, so Lana and Ray checked us into this hotel. They went to talk to the farmer. Sam and I stayed behind.
The rain let up later in the afternoon, so Sam and I swam in the outdoor pool, then walked to get ice cream at Dairy Queen. It was fun until I went to pay. That’s when I discovered some of my money was missing—forty dollars, to be exact! I know I put the whole seventy-five in my wallet before I left home, and I haven’t spent any since the trip began because Lana’s been paying for everything. Sam says maybe some hotel worker took the cash, but I don’t think so because I’ve had my purse with me all the time.
I don’t know. Maybe I did leave some at home. I’ll ask Andy to look the next time I call. Hopefully, he’ll be feeling better by then.
So all that happened yesterday. It’s morning now, and Lana and Ray left an hour ago to follow up on the farmer’s claim—seems they think he might have been wrong or even lying to get insurance money or something. They want to take some more pictures of the damage. Sam and I said we didn’t mind cramming into the back of the SUV, but apparently the farmer is pretty ornery (Ray’s word, not mine!) and Lana wasn’t too keen on us being around him.
So Sam and I are stuck here at the hotel again. It’s pouring out, so no leaving the hotel to walk around town and no indoor pool. If we don’t find something to do besides watch TV and wait for Lana and Ray to return, I think we’ll go crazy!!