You Had To Be There...

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

I wasn't on the USS Minnow, but it probably would have helped me last week as I drove from Globe to the airport to pick up RedShirt* so he could speak at our meeting on Friday.

It was going to be a long trip and EID agreed to ride with me to keep me company. Prior to leaving Globe, I got a call from my mom - she had forgotten her clothes at home and needed me to drive to her house (about an hour out of the way) before picking RedShirt up so that she wouldn't have to wear the same thing for the next three days.

So, off EID and I went on our adventure. Keep in mind that everyone else at the convention was going to have a steak dinner and then watch the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in concert while we spent hours on the road. We were not excited.

As we drove through Superior it started raining pretty hard, which wouldn't normally be a problem, but Tyler* is due for some new wiper blades and I haven't had the time to get them yet. But we manage through the storm and continue down the road. About 15 miles outside of Apache Junction the sky got dark and the monsoon began. There was lightening everywhere and every ten minutes or so one would strike really close and practically blind us. Then all of the sudden we came to a complete stop. Literally - no one was moving. EID was freaking out - being from California she had never seen a monsoon before and she thought we were going to get struck by lightening.

It starts to become clear that we are not going to be able to make it to my parents' house to get the clothes - we may not even make it to the airport on time. So I call my mom to tell her that she needs to find someone to pick them up and bring them to me near the airport.

After about 30 minutes of sitting there, traffic begins to move again. Five minutes after that - the sky opens up and we are in a torrential downpour! Literally, even if I had wiper blades that worked, they wouldn't have been able to keep up with the rain.

My cousin, Clarendon*, had agreed to pick up the clothes and meet me near the airport. As EID and I make our way to the meeting location, we are wishing that we had a Go-Go-Gadget car that turned into a boat because the highway was literally beginning to flood.

To make a long story short, we get the clothes and head to the airport. Turns out RedShirt's plane can't land in Phoenix because of the storm so they have been diverted to Las Vegas. We decide to rent him a car and head back to Globe before we get stuck in a flash flood.

It rained on us all the way back to Globe, but we survived - barely.

The greatest part of this story is that on the way back to Globe my mom called to tell us about their night. They all walk over to the arena for the concert and get settled in. The band begins to play and then it begins to rain - really hard. (Apparently whoever built the arena didn't plan for it to ever rain because at one point my mom went to the bathroom and there was water coming out of the light fixtures. ) In the middle of the concert, the lights go out and water starts rushing into the arena, flooding the place. (Word on the street is that lightening struck, which caused the power outage.) The band decides not to go back on - you know that whole water-and-electricity-don't-mix thing - but no one can leave the arena because it is raining so hard outside. So they sit there in the dark with water running from one end of the place to the other. Gives a whole new meaning to "Fishin' in the Dark..."