by Tina Altum

Created on: February 25, 2009

Hail Falls in Kansas

Selah squinted and pulled her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose while she leaned forward in her seat and gazed out the windshield. The sky was beginning to darken where it met the horizon, and while they felt prepared for almost anything after the events of the last week, she didn't relish the idea of dealing with threatening weather.

"Does the sky look dark to you?" she asked. Jesse focused on the sky and answered, "Yeah, maybe a little bit."

The two of them had been on the road for almost ten days now. It was a trip they had dreamed of for more than a year. They left St. Louis the Friday before Memorial Day, traveled through Oklahoma, the panhandle of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. After staying with some friends in Phoenix, they embarked on a rather treacherous journey to the Grand Canyon. They drove to the North Rim and took mules to the bottom of the canyon. It took them eight exhausting hours, four down and four back. The day they made the trek, it was 40 degrees at the top of the canyon. By the time they reached the bottom, they were stripping off their jackets and sweatshirts to bask in the 80 degree sun. One might not imagine it, but sitting atop a large animal for an entire day can do a number on the body. That was two days ago, and they were both still dealing with the immense pain.

Now on their way back home, they were coming out of the Colorado Rockies (both sitting on a pillow), about to embark on the rather boring voyage across the state of Kansas. The previous night, they had battled a near blizzard crossing from Utah into Colorado. Blowing snow had come out of nowhere, making visibility close to zero. The only way they were able to see the road was by following closely behind an eighteen-wheeler and saying a lot of prayers. The big rig's taillights glowed red and provided the beacon that kept them from plunging to their deaths (or so they thought). They were able to find a little hotel resembling nothing more than an ancient cave carved into the side of a rock and got some sleep before heading back out on the road.

"Do you think it'll be alright?" Selah asked while again looking high above the little white car into the late afternoon sky.

"Oh, I think so."

Jesse had always been the fearless one. She and Selah had been best friends since college, and she was used to trying to calm the nerves of her old friend.

"I'm wondering if we should try to find some weather information in case we need to stop," Selah continued, fiddling

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