About Last Night...

I'm back from Arizona. I'll be posting some more about my adventures out that way, but I've had a few adventures here on the home front. My flight home from Tucson was yesterday afternoon. My flight was scheduled to have a connection in Dallas/Ft. Worth. When I checked my bag, the agent asked if I'd like to switch to the direct flight, which would get me in about 3 1/2 hours earlier. Of course I would! I boarded the plane feeling very lucky. Little did I know.

As we were crossing the Mississippi River, I saw a truly impressive (and huge) thunderstorm out the left side of the plane. I remember thinking that I hoped it was still far enough to the west that we would be able to land. We landed, I got my bag, and was out at remote parking where Leon picked me up in very short time. We would go grocery shopping and head home for dinner.

As we drove west, the sky grew very ominous. Quickly, we started seeing a lot of very close ground strokes of lighning. As the sky grew very green, we decided to forgo shopping and go directly home. Things deteriorated quickly. Traffic signals were out, and downed limbs began appearing and blocking the route home. An overhead wire arced alarmingly. Although we could not hear it at the time, the tornado sirens were sounding. I had to go completely around the block to get to my driveway because a large tree had fallen in my street, taking the power lines with it.

Chicago is still reeling from the aftermath of the storm. Wind gusts to 94 mph were recorded and Elgin recorded a 75 mph gust. I feel very fortunate. We had no damage to the house- or to ourselves. If my original flight plan had held, I probably would not have gotten home at all last night. At the very least, I would have been delayed. The storm held off just long enough that my checked luggage was able to be unloaded promptly. They won't do that if there is lightning near the airport. We did not buy groceries, which is also lucky because my power may be out for several days. It was a wild night, and very uncomfortable sleeping with no fan.

The street in front of my house at 5:30 this morning.