My tweets

• Tue, 13:26: Interestingly, Rukmapura Hotel in Maharishi Vedic City where we're staying has a copy of the The Bible donated by The Gideons. #ingodwetrust
• Tue, 13:27: Also, dad & I got the only suite in the hotel. Huge place, high ceilings. Free wireless, satellite TV, m/wave, coffee maker... comfy! #iowa
• Tue, 21:59: BBC World Service not available in rented car here in Illinois & Iowa, so forced to hear Sean Hannity aka Glenn Beck w/ 3 extra grey cells.
• Wed, 06:08: Catching up on this year's Oscar Best Picture nominations during holiday. King's Speech - very moving, 127 Hours - not bad either. #films
• Wed, 06:14: Off to Detroit for the first time in a few hours. Three-legged flight via Chicago & St Louis. Weather forecast not looking good. Ugh...
• Wed, 06:18: Maharishi Vedic City has been interesting. Will post about it after returning to London. Don't think I'd've visited Iowa at all otherwise.
• Wed, 07:15: Between the hectic traveling have been fitting in Chennai's IPL matches against Bangalore. Today's victory was sweeet! 3rd final in 4 years!

Twister near Kansas City

Hiding inside the freezer room of a McDonald's just off the Interstate Highway 17 near Liberty, Missouri. You can see dad's head in the left foreground. A tornado passed within a mile of where we took refuge!

Phew! Heavy rains overnight. Woke up at 4 to catch a plane from Des Moines, a 2h30 drive away from Maharishi Vedic City. All flights to Chicago were cancelled, including ours. Our connection to St Louis was also cancelled. No chance of getting to Detroit until tomorrow and that was contingent on the weather improving. We had two options, drive down to Omaha where the weather was probably a bit better or as bad as Des Moines, or drive to Kansas City and catch a flight via Memphis, Tennessee. We opted for the latter, only to find ourselves driving straight into the path of a 30mph tornado just before the airport. As the rain picked up we pulled into a Mickey D's. As the twister approached our temporary abode of safety, the kind staff hollered us into the freezer room. Needless to say, it was quite chilly inside but luckily we only had to spend about a dozen or so minutes there before it was safe to come out. We continued on to Kansas City International Airport. Just as we stepped inside, another thunderstorm lashed hard onto the terminal building. We're now sitting at the gate and hoping to board our aircraft to Memphis in about 90mins. Wish us the best!