The morning started out as a normal day at work out in the field. Emma and I checked the weather in the morning to make sure it was not going to rain today, and all seemed well for today. Nowhere on the radar did it say that there was rain coming. Anyway, we went out into the field and it was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky. We started counting our blue bunch out in the warm sun. As we were about to finish our last section of our transect, we looked up and over the hills, we started to see just a few white clouds heading our way. We continued counting and a little while later, we looked up again, but to see dark, rolling clouds coming our way. The sight of the clouds were simply amazing and looked so ominous. Looking to the northeast, you could see only blue sky, but when looking to the southwest, all you saw were these dark clouds.
Imagine these clouds rolling toward you and directly over your head.
We decided to just keep counting and minding our own business, only to look up every 5 or so minutes to see the clouds coming closer and closer and getting darker and darker; they looked menacing. Soon enough the clouds covered up the sun and we saw the shade line overcoming us and the region all around us. One the line of shade passed us, we could immediately feel the change in the air. We could no longer feel the beating rays of the sun, but the chill of the wind and the air. Wanting to finish the transect, we decided to keep counting until we felt the first drop of rain or clap of thunder. Soon enough, we felt the first drop of rain, and we decided to pack up. However, it changed from one drop of rain to big and fat rain drops to buckets of m&m sized hail in a matter of 30 or so seconds. We scrambled to gather up all our materials and ran down that hill faster than ever, with hail pelting us from above. The hail hit us in the back, in the arms, on the head, and even hit my lip pretty darn hard. I've never been in anything like this. By the time we got down to the hill, we were both completely soaked from head to toe. We definitely tested our quick-dry pants from that experience, and I am glad to tell you they work great ;). This storm and these clouds were one of the most amazing, yet somewhat frightening sights I have ever seen. It was amazing to see this storm approach, from the beginning to the end.
We soon got out of the hills and back on the Highway to head home for the day, but a few miles down the road, the traffic was stopped. We waited in traffic for about 30 minutes, until we were told that we would need to wait at least another hour until we could pass. Unfortunately, there is only one main highway leading to Walla Walla. It's our only way home, and it was blocked. Apparently what happened is that a motorcyclist was thrown off his vehicle around a bend, and run over by a large truck. We were told that he was deceased, and the cars were stalled because we needed to wait for people to removed him from the highway. He was just lying in the middle of the road, something I did not want to think about or see. This was such a sad, sad thing to hear.
Since we had to wait at least an hour until traffic cleared, Emma and I decided to go to Pasco to pick up some things she and I both needed. On our way back home, we ran low on gas, so stopped at the next gas station, filled up, and discovered a fruit farm that sold cherries. The cherries were sold in a sketch white building without any signs on it, but we decided to go in together. We ended up getting 3 lbs. of the most delicious bing cherries for only two bucks! It was such a pleasant surprise, and they are the most amazing fresh picked bing cherries I have ever tasted. OMMNOMSSSSS.
We made it home safely without any further strange occurrences, but I can certainly say that this day is going to be a memorable one.
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