Keep Children in Hand

It’s official. I cannot separate reality from irony.

I leave my roommates alone for less than two days, and they go ahead and let the weather in Central Oregon go straight to hell. I started driving home late this morning, and when I reached Madras the weather went absolutely berzerk. The wind we had on our river trip last weekend didn’t even compare to the thrashing that cut through this town.

Everything that wasn’t nailed down was airborne, including garbage cans and their entire contents (which consisted mostly of fast food trash). Rain was falling sideways. Literally. It sounded like waves were breaking on the driver’s side of my car. Tumbleweeds as large as dumpsters zipped across the highway, pelting any car that didn’t get out of the way. Huge campaign signs ripped loose from their moorings and took flight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were winging over Idaho right now.

Considering that I almost got hit by two manhole covers rolling down the road, my Saturday attempt at a 25+ knot kiteboarding session wasn’t that rough after all.