A Shocking End to Our Adventure

The weather reports indicated that the worst of the weather was yet to come. Giant-sized hail was forecast. After arriving back at the hotel following our bus ride, Diana moved her new car into the garage under the hotel. While she did that, I questioned the man at the check-in counter about plans in case we were hit by a tornado. He looked at me questionably.

I added, “There are tornado watches out.”

He responded, “I know.”

“So, do upper floors have to be evacuated or anything?” (we were on the 4^th floor)

“It’s never happened.”

“Okay,” I thought. “Guess they don’t have any evacuation plans.”

Hunkering Down

We ordered carry-out Shrimp and Grits from the bar. Once back in our room, we wearily donned our pajamas, crawled under the covers, ate while watching TV for news and weather reports. The tree tops outside our West-facing window bent and swirled with intermittent gusts of wind.

Succumbing to exhaustion, we declared … if a tornado hits, we hope to sleep right through it. We closed the curtains, crawled under the covers, and went to sleep.

And we did sleep through whatever happened. We awoke refreshed and the hotel was still standing and seemed none the worse for wear. Outside our window, the sun was shining. Apparently no tornado touched down near us.

We quickly dressed and gathered our things in preparation for our 8-hour trek back to Diana’s son’s in Jackson, Missouri.

A Shocking Departure

As we checked out, we asked for another of Hilton’s warm chocolate chip cookies. When the attendant handed them to us, I smiled and declared, “Breakfast!”

We headed for the basement, luggage in tow, to fetch the car. We were in for a SHOCK!

The basement was flooded.

We strategized

• Diana waded through standing water, at least six inches deep in the middle.
• I waited with our luggage at a small ramp outside the hotel door.
• She backed the car up to that ramp, got out, grabbed luggage, and flung it in the back end.

• To avoid my walking in water, Diana said she’d pick me up at the front entrance.
• I turned around to go back into the hotel.
• The door was locked and we had turned in our room keys.
• Our food bag with those warm chocolate chip cookies sat on the other side of the locked door.
• We panicked.
• An employee emerged from a door down the hall.
• We got his attention … he saw our plight … and opened the door.
• Diana got back in the car.

Our spirits undaunted, we departed for Jackson as planned, at the appointed time of 8 am.

And this is what we consider FUN … and MEANINGFUL!

It feels so good to be true to who we are!