The Rain Out
Today was a decent sleep in if I were in the Pacific Time zone, but for the Central time zone I was really killing it, 11 o'clock am. I dropped the boys off at the field and did some much needed grocery shopping. The boys didn't have much, but they don't really need much. I, on the other hand, require tons of fresh fruit, veggies, healthy snack-ables and a wide assortment of teas. Bad news, Iowa doesn't have anything close to an impressive tea selection. After stocking the fridge with Sue necessities and I drove over to the tiny local airport to pick up two of my three checked pieces of luggage. My third item, a large plastic tub with my work printer in it, was too tall to be placed underneath plane. When I picked up the items, the manager informed me that the tub would come in tomorrow if there was an empty seat on the plane for it to ride in. How's that for small town service?!
The area had high warnings for flash floods and severe thunder and lightening storms for the entire day. I drove the jeep around for my errands while the roads, streams and Mississippi filled. The wind howled like I've never heard in my life before, the folks around town told me not to worry unless the sirens started going off. The sirens warn of nearby tornadoes. While I was shopping in Wal-Mart it sounded like the wind was ripping the roof off the store and the lights and coolers flickering every few moments. Listening for a siren, or constantly contemplating the closest underground haven, while going about every day errands was a new experience to me.
This is the neighbors home. The homes on the river are all on stilts, but when the river is at it's normal state it doesn't come close to the stilts.
After the boys games was cancelled we loaded up in the car and headed out to Andrew (Kyle's roommate and fellow outfielders') host parents home for dinner. They invited us out for lasagna, garlic bread and salad. The drive was slow and wound around the swollen Mississippi, the sides of the country road ways pooled with rain and flood water. We drove over a levy to reach their home. The first levy I can ever recall seeing, or driving over. Once over the levy, all the homes were on stilts and the Mississippi raged beneath them. People were frantically pulling boats, atv's, tarped trailers and cars up the levy to it's highest point. In fact, Andrew's host dad waved us into the the home from his quad and then sped off down the road pulling a filled trailer. In the home, we ate dinner in a beautiful dining room over the river, lined with floor to ceiling windows. The Mississippi river was right outside the window and quickly flowed below us. I have ever seen a river so huge, and later discovered the part of the river we were watching was merely a slew, a 1500 acre island separated it from the main channel. I can't begin to fathom the amount of water in it's entirety. When Andrew's host dad joined us, he informed us the river had risen twenty feet in the past 24 hours. Although their gorgeous home was holding steady on the firm pillars that lifted it above the water, the garage below was close to filling with the fast muddy river water. When we had arrived he was hastily moving everything from the garage to a FEMA lot above the levy for the night in case the river rose another three feet, at which point it would begin filling their concrete garage.
View from the side windows of the home. The black bars are for their expansion this summer.
The view was incredible, and as the night wore on the host parents turned the lights off and we watched the brilliant purple lightening storm flash bright above the Mississippi. These Mid-West storms are something all of their own.
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