Stream of Conscience (or Conscious)...whichever

You know those drives you really dread taking? I took one on Monday. Ask anyone who has done it before, and they will surely tell you the drive from Evansville, Indiana to Indianapolis is no walk in the park. I had a great time once I got there, but it's the getting there (and back) that was almost torturous. And on top of the already amazingly wonderful drive, both interstates I took were riddled with signs reading "Road Work, Next 11 Miles," "One Lane Road Ahead," "Left Shoulder Closed," "Lane Shift Ahead," "Punching Yourself in the Face Would Be Better Than This." Okay, okay. That last one I made up. But truthfully, at some moments I started to think that maybe the state of Indiana could have saved A BUNCH of tax-payer money by putting this sign as I got on the interstate at the beginning of my trip:

Or maybe even this one:

At least I would have laughed.

I made it through the first half of the trip back to Indy without being too annoyed. Until I got about 30 minutes from home and ran into what you might call "a monsoon." I think I've heard it called "Raining Cats and Dogs." Shortly after it started raining, I began to notice the rain was not going anywhere on the sides of the interstate. It just kind of was sitting there. Traffic slowed to a crawl...then finally came to a dead stop. And we sat, in the pouring rain, for 45 minutes. Not moving an inch. I turned off my car after a while, and after it was raining the hardest, I found my camera. I really wish I had taken a picture 5 minutes before. It was unreal.

Now, there's something about sitting in a car that's going nowhere for 45 minutes that gets you thinking about some pretty weird things:

-I wonder if there's an accident. If so, Lord be with the people in it and the medical people.

-Wow, it'd be terrible to have to save someones life in this weather.

-I wonder if the ambulance and police people have amazing rain gear.

-I wonder how many people sitting in this traffic have to go to the bathroom.

-I wonder how many people sitting in this traffic are pregnant.

-I wonder how many people sitting in this traffic are pregnant AND have to go to the bathroom.

-Noah must have been TOTALLY freaked out when it started raining for the first time.

-Can lightning strike me if I'm in a car?

-No, the tires ground the electricity. Or something like that. I wish I had paid more attention in physics. Or whatever that class was.

-Wouldn't it be nice to know how long this rain would last?

-I'll roll down my window and ask the guy next to me if he has an iPhone and knows the answer.

-Hello! Bad idea. I forgot. It's raining. Don't roll the window down.

-I wish I could see an aerial view of this traffic to see how long the line is.

-If I had fun videos on my iPod, I'd watch them.
-I kind of wish I had this video on my iPod. It would make me laugh.

-What if someone runs out of gas here? Would they walk to get it or wait for the rain to stop?

-What if we have to sleep here?

-I'm really tired. Is it possible for your eyes to fall out of your head from being so tired?

-That would be a weird phone call, "Hey mom. My eyes fell out of my head. What?? No...because I was so tired."

-OH LOOK, WE'RE MOVING!

And we were off. But little did I know, the fun had just begun. I got off on my normal exit, 4 minutes from my driveway and the comforts of my pajamas. And because of rushing water over every road I tried to use, I did not get home until 45 minutes later. At one point, I took my seat belt off in preparation for all the water emergency training I received from watching the Oprah show. These pictures really don't do it justice. At all.

On a serious note, I was so thankful for Jesus' protection as I was driving. I found out the reason for the delay on the interstate was because a car heading southbound hydroplaned and was sent across the grass median and into the northbound lanes. And that happened literally 5 minutes before my arriving on the scene. Thank you Lord for construction and slow trucks early in the trip that kept me safe!