Day 21 Salina to north of Aurora

Heading into Salina

This morning the road was wet, but no rain on me. I was at greater risk of being soaked by a passing 18 wheeler than by anything falling out of the sky. I watched the sun rise through the clouds as I headed toward Salina. I had to call in for a staff meeting at work, interrupted by a live radio interview, and then back to my meeting. I was able to walk through most of the meeting. By the time we reached the city, the clouds had become more threatening and the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip. There was a tornado warning out for 9 counties through Utah, including Sevier and Sanpete counties. I thought that was interesting news, but not worth paying much attention to.



Candice and Lana at the Maverick

 We stopped at the Maverick store where Lana, the store manager offered us hot dogs and drinks. Their cheesy hot dogs are pretty good when you dress them out the way Kara does. She gives the term, “the works”, new meaning.

The day was mostly uneventful, except that, after leaving Salina, the rain came. I was ok with the rain, and mostly ok with the wind, especially since it was at my back at this point, but lightening and thunder concerns me when I am walking around holding a pair of lightening rods. So after a few flashes of lightening accompanied by a downpour of rain, we decided to call it quits for the day. 

Back in Salina, we stopped at the famous Mom’s Café for lunch. As we were waiting for our food, the town sirens started going off. At first we thought it was just an ambulance or a fire engine, but they kept going, and going. Larry and Becky, who came from to experience a train ride in Colorado and some of our National Parks, were sitting at a table next to us. Becky asked the only waitress I saw on duty what was going on. She calmly stated that what we were hearing was the tornado warning sirens, and that in case of a tornado we were all supposed to head down into the cellar. Who would have guessed there was such a thing as tornado warning sirens in Salina? She said it with less excitement than she had exhibited in describing today’s special. No one looked or acted the slightest bit concerned. She went on and took their order, sirens blaring in the background and everyone else paying more attention to their plates than the possible tornado. Granted, the likelihood of an actual tornado was pretty small, but it reminded me of movies when people are warned of some impending doom and then calmly ignore the warning.

Becky and Larry from Washington

When Larry found out what I was doing, he immediately pulled out his wallet and handed Kara a $20 bill. He was like so many others who seem to get it. He didn’t seem to even give it a second thought. Without folks like Larry and Becky, my project wouldn’t amount to much. Thanks again to all of you who have sacrificed to help these kids and to help us.

WHERE'S WALLY?