Scott City Storms

We had a short day riding from Dighton to Scott City, only 24 miles, but it was tough riding with strong and a pretty noticeable incline working against us.  I couldn't help but think about how FUN it would have been to ride Kansas the other way where the ride would be mostly downhill instead of up.  Maybe someday.
When we pulled into Scott City my parents were waiting for us at the Methodist Church.  Before we saw the church we heard the bells, and you know what that means!  SMOOCHIES!  Anyway, the preacher and some other folks were waiting there to take us to lunch!  How nice!  We were starving!  After our yummy meal we went back to the church to collect Simon and our bikes and to snap a couple photos.

That's Thelma on the far left.  She bought everyone lunch!  Eva is the youngster in front of me.  She rode my trike but I missed getting a picture of it.  She is the pastor's granddaughter and she had the same color on her fingernails as I have on my toenails!  :)  Next to her is the pastor, Dennis, and his wife, Betty.  My mom took this pic so she isn't in it.  My dad told her after taking this pic to take another one, just in case, and this is what he did:

So this is what I did in the next pic:

Keeping the tradition alive, I had to follow in my father's footsteps and give Eva bunny ears.  It was Father's Day afterall!!
After we spoke to the editor of the local newspaper (thanks Thelma!) we headed out to the Scott Lake State Park where my parents had been camping since last Wednesday.  This park is considered, An Oasis in the Prairie.  Unlike the other parts of Kansas we've been seeing, there are actually hills and trees and stuff here.

Here is the campsite we were planning to share with my parents, but the storm prevented that.  We had only been here a few minutes when the clouds started to get very dark and heavy.  Just moments before the sky had been perfectly blue and clear.  It was scary how fast it got bad.

It was odd seeing lightening with the blue sky still in the background.  The blue sky stayed long enough to make us all think this wouldn't be much of a storm, but boy were we wrong.  The Park Ranger came though with his lights on, hurrying to tell everyone that there was a Tornado Warning and to seek cover.  We looked online and saw that there was indeed rotating wind just  few miles SE of the lake, and that it was heading right for us.  I haven't ever seen that much hail, ever.  Several waves us of it fell and the wind blew it sideways.  It was one TERRIFIC storm.  We all ran to the bathroom building which was close to our site:

The sky turned an ominous shade of green, which is typical of tornado weather.

People got pretty excited about this storm.  It was INTENSE, and we were glad we weren't in our tent!  Of course, I never imagined for one second that I would be spending Father's Day in a Men's room!  Those signs on the doors didn't mean much when this storm was peaking.  People just wanted to stay safe together, us included.  We won't soon forget this Father's Day!!

Keep me safe from the storm Dad!

With my two favorite guys there with me, I felt safe.  I just love this picture.

Ribbit.