#cedarpointtornado

[extraordinaryonwheels]

Amusement Park Disaster

On a seemingly clear day in 8th grade, many years ago, my brother Ryan, my mom, and I visited Cedar Point, a famous amusement park in northern Ohio, with my choir class. The day started out like a relatively normal school trip, we arrived at the school bright and early, boarded the bus, and departed on the endless trek to Sandusky, Ohio. After a month of Sundays, we arrived; the painstaking bus ride was over. For most of the day, the sky was clear, and the sun was as hot as fire. We enjoyed the park and the available, accessible rides. The evening eventually rolled around, and mysterious dark clouds could be seen for days (it seemed) over the vast expanse of Lake Erie with howling winds. Minutes later, a frightening twister spiraled out of the sky over the lake. To prevent getting a one-way ticket out to sea we were prepared to get in the nearby storm drain, in the event the tornado started closing in on us. The tornado, which appeared to go on for 5 hours, likely minutes in reality, eventually disappeared into the darkness, followed by torrential downpours.

We decided to go into a neighboring Johnny Rockets, with one small table to spare, to take cover. A waitress asked us to leave because, in her eyes, our wheelchairs were obviously an eyesore; she complained we were impeding the flow of the restaurant. We left the restaurant in the torrential rain and hellacious lightning to take the trek to guest services, who kindly allowed us to take cover in their building until it was time to board the bus. After hours of listening to the buckets of rain hitting the metal building, it was finally time to leave. On the way to the bus, the parking lot looked somewhat flooded by a few inches, but we cautiously carried on. As we were approaching the bus, my wheelchair decided to malfunction, as a result of the electronics getting flooded, causing it to tilt back on its own, quickly, almost drowning me. At this point, I realized the flooding was likely closer to one foot. My choir teacher was walking behind me and saw the issue unfolding, jumped into action, and picked me up out of my chair. My mom and another choir teacher, who were walking in front with Ryan, ran back to help, and I got in my spare manual wheelchair. My mom was able to tilt my chair back up so I could get back in it and board the bus. Once I boarded the bus, I was on my last leg (wheel) after the eventful day, and fell asleep on the ride back home. A seemingly second later, we arrived at the school, departed the bus. and drove home. Life lesson: Never drive through a parking lot that looks “somewhat” flooded! Following the trip, it appeared my wheelchair, which has since been decommissioned, was filled with mud.

Elvis has left the building!