Night 1 of the Fair

So last night marked opening night of the NEMO fair. My friend Brandy and I headed to brave the heat and the crowds to listen to Keith Anderson sing XXL. We got there an hour early, as any good fair goers would do and secured our seat in the metal grandstands and listened to some terrible hometown singers sing. As we were sitting there, chatting away and checking to see people we knew, I looked towards the Northeast and made a comment that they were getting some storms over there. It began to lightning a little, but it was pretty far off so we thought nothing of it. Finally it was time for Keith to come on but the news station here kept giving away free crap(which i got none of) and introducing the fair queens! Meanwhile, the storm that once seemed so far away was getting closer and closer, which lightning that pretty much looked like the picture above, happening on a consistent basis.
We all got excited and lept to our feet when Keith Anderson FINALLY came out on stage! He was doing a great job as the lightning was drawing closer and closer. Brandy and I kept debating back and forth about whether we should get off the metal lightning rod we were sitting on but didn't want to miss the show. After his second song, a man came on stage and interrupted and said, "Folks, i hate to do this but we've just been informed there's a big cell heading right towards us and we had better get everyone out of the grandstands". Groans from the crowd and then mad rush off the bleachers was what ensued next. So we head to our car in the field and try to make a beeline out of the fairgrounds, knowing the traffic was going to be horrendous.
This is where the story gets good. We pull in line behind a van and we sit....and we sit some more....and we sit some more. Menawhile, all around us the wind is picking up, the lightning is non-stop ground action now and we just heard on the radio that Kirksville is under a severe thunderstorm warning, right before the radio cuts out. So we are still sitting there as this van lets more and more people in line, prohibiting us from moving an inch. I warned Brandy that i sometimes experience road rage and she informed me that she does too. My big concern was that the rain would start and my little 92 toyota corolla was not going to be able to make it to the main road. Brandy is cussing up a storm and i am screaming at the van in front of us to go. That is about the time we realize that the van in front of us was full of juvenile delinquents from Brandy's work and some kids who are on my caseload. You would think that this would calm us down but no, it only infuriates us more. Brandy is threatening to fire the staff who is driving(over which she has NO authority) and continues cussing at them from our car. At one point, she gets halfway out of the car and yells, "what the F#$%, I'm going to kick your A$%" at no one in particular. I am laughing so hard i can't handle it. This goes on for about half an hour. All because of the incompetent staff driving this van. We spent 35 minutes sitting in line while they let everyone and their mother out in front of them. When we finally returned to the facility to get Brandy's car, we went inside and made a calm, collected comment to the staff that was driving the van," It was a mess out there huh?" to which he replies, " Yeah, man, people don't know how to drive!!"....we just sat there stunned and turned and walked away quietly, all of our energy spent yelling at him earlier from our car. I have not laughed so hard for such a long time.