We're not in Kansas anymore...

Fortunately, we never had to say that... since we purposely have avoided touching Nebraska and Kansas... those states look boring (and Becca's stories confirm my suspicions)

However, we're getting a glimpse of Toto and Dorothy's life.  Remember how I promised you a story from the Badlands?  The end of the story is that we didn't sleep there.

Now, here's the beginning.  I really wanted to go to the Badlands National Park.  I had heard they were gorgeous (and they were) and I really wanted to see them.
We drove into the park, set up camp, and saw that it was probably going to rain so we made a sweet rain shelter.  Then, we had dinner and started playing some Uno (the recipe for a great night... and spanish lessons!).  Suddenly, in the middle of Uno, I looked up from getting creamed (yes, Andrea, it is possible to beat me at 2 person Uno) and saw this MASSIVE BLACK CLOUD heading straight for us.  This cloud contained the entire horizon, ground to sky, and was coming at us.. FAST.  We quickly threw everything we had in the tent, tore off our super sweet rain shelter, and jumped in the tent to hide.

Our tent, evidently, is weak.

Hiding there did no good... the sides started caving on us from the wind and was not much of an emotional support with all the lightening, hail, and rain.  Finally, Suzanne, the one with survival instincts said, "Katharine, this really isn't safe." 
She was right.  We quickly popped the tent poles out so it lay flat, threw the cooler on top, and plopped our soaking wet bodies in the car.

And we sat.
And we sat.
And the car shook with the thunder, swayed with the wind, pounded with the hail, and was totally visible with the lightening flashes. 

We sat in the car, thankful for the dryness and shelter, a bit wary of the conditions outside, and regretting not taking a picture of the cloud.

Once the lightening was a bit further away, we decided to launch a rescue mission.  Realizing that sleeping in the car would be quite uncomfortable (have I mentioned that we have a Mazda Protege?) , something had to happen. So,we jumped in the tent where EVERYTHING we owned was wet.  Our books dripped water, there were puddles on the tent floor, our sleeping bags and pillows felt spongy, and our bags with nice, clean clothes from Crazy Woman were now quite moist. 

Coming to the realization that we had no shelter, no warmth, and no other alternatives, we turned on Harry Potter and drove East.

And found a hotel.