Monday, May 23, 2011

Tornado Warnings, stuck in Albuquerque, NM

Sunday, 5/22/11 Will returned to ABQ (the hip abbreviation for Albuquerque) at 5:30 pm today via US Airway and was real glad to be back in "his house." He said the funeral service for his brother, JR was very nice and the family was very appreciated to all. JR would have been 87 years old this summer and had a very nice long life, especially the last 20 years with his wonderful companion, Helen. An many thanks to Kim & Bill for their wonderful hospitality to dad, Will & uncle Gene but a special thanks to Kim for sending him home w/clean clothes!

My morning was spent wandering through a beautiful shopping center, (name unknown) but had a Trader Joe's & Sports Authority, the two stores I was looking for. Another beautiful day, weather wise, in ABQ.

Monday, 5/23/11 Well today is Wills rest day but also one for preparing to get ready to leave Tuesday morning for Amarillo, TX. I plan to spend the day cleaning up the inside (I have been to busy sightseeing to worry about chores) However, this morning our friend Bob Finnegan called to talk about the tornado's in Joplin, MO, knowing that we were headed that way to Springfield, MO. We were shocked, to say the least. We had not watched TV or listened to any news so had no idea how bad it was. Of course, we immediately turned on the Weather Channel & were devastated by what we saw.

Will called his cousin, Dixie who we were going to stay with in Springfield, MO and she said the weather was horrible and they were trapped in their house. I-44, the highway we were to take there was shut down & she told us.....don't come here! There was so much lightning & thunder she didn't even want to talk on the phone.

After checking Amarillo, TX, where we were headed tomorrow they show winds up to 34 miles per hour and tornado warning abound in Oklahoma City, where we would be on Wednesday. So we made the decision to STAY PUT IN ABQ. We then went over to Camping World, that is located next to the RV park we are currently staying in & had them transfer the refrigerator part we were suppose to have installed in Oklahoma City to ABQ. Then paid for 2 more days at our park. This RV park has been filling up all day w/folks heading East on I-40 & want to wait out the storm, so we decided to join them.

The irony of all this, had it NOT been for the funeral and the original delay in ABQ we could have been right in the middle of the tornado area. So there is no bad or good about what happens, it just is. Thank you Jesus for keeping us safe. Much love to all family and friends.

1 comment:

Nancy said...

So glad that you guys stayed there and that you are safe! Not sure if I will make it to detroit tomorrow but I will try for Day 2...the Red Sox are waiting!