We’re not in Kansas, Toto, although not too far from it

It seems I will get to go home a day early from the “Heartland.” I was hoping to have a down day tomorrow, but my employers can’t have me off not doing anything so they are paying more than $250 extra for me to fly home tomorrow on a different flight instead of as scheduled on Friday. Now what employers would rather piss away money for nothing just so it appears that I am not up here in Kansas City, Mo., doing nothing? Could you guess? I bet you could.

That is fine with me. Hopefully, I will be home by this time tomorrow afternoon. Although with the thunderstorms mucking up flights everywhere in the country’s midsection this week, I wouldn’t make any bets.

Speaking of T-storms, we had to shelter-in-place this morning for a tornado. I was waiting to testify and the arbitrator indicated he planned to work through lunch. The office building where the arbitration was happening had a deli on the first floor, so I went off to grab a sandwich before being called.

While downstairs in the deli I noticed the TV was showing a radar screen with a tornado that had been detected just south of downtown Kansas City. The storms were headed toward us.

Awhile later, a lady from the office where the procedures were taking place stuck her head in our conference room/waiting room and told us that we might have to take cover if a tornado warning was sounded. She told us to go to the stairways around the corner. Sure enough, a tornado warning sounded and we headed for the stairwells.

We spent about 30 minutes in the shelter as a tornado or maybe more than one darted up and down from the sky above us. Some damage was done around KC, but not in our neck of the woods. That was pretty weird. No one seemed really freaked by it, which was kind of surprising since all of the recent deadly tornadoes. One of my fellow witnesses was from up in the Northeast. I think he got a kick out of it.

Hopefully, this will be a calmer night than last night although we only had a pretty loud thunder boomer last evening. I got a pretty good video of it over downtown KC. I would embed it here but it needs some editing. I may do that tonight, once I get all packed.

Getting all packed is my cue. Time to go South, young man.