Waking Before the Rain

I realize that I'm failing to keep to posting once a day and I promise to try to do better. This post is actually about stuff that happened on Friday.

After having spent so many nights in a tent in scouts, I had forgetten how different it was than sleeping inside. On Friday morning I found myself strangely awake at 5:20 in the morning. Since I am rarely awake by natural causes at 5:20 in the morning, I was rather confused at my sudden state of consciousness. Needless to say, I decided to take a look outside. Low and behold, on the horizon I could see lightning. I decided to move everything that I didn't need in the tent with me into the car. I then realized I was still tired and went back to sleep.

About 30 mins later the wind kicked up, it started raining in waves, and lightning was everywhere. It never ceases to amaze me the ability of those basic instincts that will wake you up anytime and anywhere whenever something needs to be done to ensure your safety.

When I did eventually get up around 7am, I rushed around quickly to pack my tent away in the rain. I only got a little wet and before I knew it I was on the road again. Driving through the remnants of Hannah was not much fun, but there wasn't much traffic and few turns to be navigated.

The only other interesting event of the day occurred when I came to the border of Illinois and Missouri. I had never actually driven across the Mississippi river. I had seen it from New Orleans, but it is an entirely different thing in the middle of the country. It was very cool to be driving across a river that is an entire mile wide. I tried to take a couple of pictures while driving across the bridge, but I really only captured the guard rail as I was paying more attention to my driving. I'll post some of these later. I hope you all enjoy staring at concrete.

I eventually made it to Kansas City around 5pm central time. Over 11 hours I had driven 650 miles and I felt surprising good. Lauren's apartment was a nice refuge in the center of the city and I was happy just to relax and take a shower. After a quick tour around KC and the suburbs where Lauren used to live, we had dinner at a small restaurant in Parkville, MO. It was a nice American place with an excellent cream of cheese soup. Needless to say, after we were done eating, I was ready for bed.

I promise more pictures and updates soon.