On the road

By Linda Jean Fobian: My son, Dustin, and I were returning home to Iowa City from a college visit in Florida. We had stayed overnight in Mississippi, woke in the morning and were on the road again.

Up to this time we had been listening to different CDs, singing along with the ones we knew. For some reason, in the early morning hours of Sept. 11, 2001, we had our radio tuned into a radio station when the news broke. Katie Couric's voice is who we heard, talking about what was going on -- almost like play by unbelievable play.

Those that were in front of their TV's had the visual. We had in our minds what was going on. Our drive home was almost surreal. I wanted to stop at a store with TVs to see. My son just wanted to get home.

Like many we made calls to make sure everyone was safe at home in Iowa, to hear their voices. As we went through towns, the roads were empty, the skies bright blue, no planes flying as ordered by the government.

Just as we were driving in south of IC, across the horizon was one lonely jet stream, which was said to be President Bush on his way from Omaha to Washington, DC.

We, along with millions of people around the world, were glued to our televisions once we returned home from being on the road.