Accidental Storm Chasing

You'd think having grown up in Indiana, I'd have a sense of when a storm's-a-brewing. I must have lived in California too long. Yesterday evening, I left my hotel room for an outing in the happening downtown of Des Moines. In the distance, some blue and black clouds were moving in, but I figured I had a couple of hours to go to the local brewery and sample some corn-bred elixir.

I drive the ten miles downtown and enter the Apocalypse. Suddenly, the sky goes black and this giant atomic cloud appears overhead:

Instinct said 1) Take a picture! and 2) Get the hell back to your hotel and HIDE!

Back on the interstate, hail is banging the crap out of the little red engine that could. Cars are pulled over with hazards a-blaze. I can't see a foot ahead of me...and gusts of wind about blow me off the road. I feel like I'm in the middle of an episode of storm chasers, except this dumb ass had no idea a storm was coming...

And so, I arrived safely back at the hotel with a nice adrenaline buzz...just in time to see the dinosaur at the gas station next door blow over:

Lesson Learned: Avoid dinosaurs during thunderstorms.