At approximately 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday, July 29, 2008, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California and the Leonzo family was there firsthand, risking life and limb, to get you the true story.
It all started off as an innocent trip to Camping World to get supplies for the R.V., but by the end of the day, the Leonzos would be uncovering a massive government conspiracy.
As we were preparing to leave the Camping World parking lot, the R.V. started to rock violently. At first, I thought that it was Kathy catching up on a little aerobics in the back… why I thought that I don’t know… but hey, when something goes wrong, I normally blame Kathy. After her vehemently denying that she was brushing up on her Richard Simmons' moves and another 15 more seconds of shaking, I realized that we were having an earthquake.
The exact same thing was happening in my parent’s minivan… except my Dad was blaming the boys for messing around (he would have probably blamed my Mom, but she was sitting right beside him).
It didn’t take long for the doors of the nearby buildings to fly open and for people to stream out into the parking lot. Over the course of the next several hours we would listen to news story after news story… each reporting that the damage was minimal at worst.
But that isn’t what we saw.
In an industrial area next to Camping World, there were massive explosions and fires. The heat was so intense that we could actually feel it. People were screaming… it was utter pandemonium and chaos.
Rather than being engulfed in flames, we high tailed it out of the parking lot and headed for the I-5 freeway south. However, due to construction (or that is what the government would have you believe), we were detoured through a neighborhood.
As we turned a corner, we couldn’t believe our eyes. Somehow the earthquake had caused a 747 jumbo jet to crash right into the neighborhood. The damage was something right out of War of the Worlds. 
The homes were absolutely destroyed. One house had a jet engine sitting in the front yard. Cars were smashed. Clothes and furniture were strewn about. And the most horrible scene of all was the fuselage of the airliner torn open exposing the passenger cabin. Amazingly, there were no bodies. No cries for help. No one wandering the streets.
Yet, in the midst of all of the destruction, the mainstream media was silent…O.k. I’m just playing around. Yes, we were in the earthquake. The biggest one that Kathy and I have ever experienced (the ones in L.A. during the late 80’s and early 90’s when we lived there were at most magnitude 4.5). And yes, I must admit, I initially thought Kathy was messing around… I have since apologized and she has graciously forgiven me (nothing like a brush with near death to help with the extension of grace).
As for the industrial fire and the airlines crash… I made up the story… but the pictures were real. If you call pictures from Universal Studios’ back lot real. The fire pictures came from the Water World Stunt Show and the crashed airliner was the actual set from War of the Worlds. That particular set was absolutely amazing. They actually brought in a decommissioned 747 and destroyed it in the back lot of Universal Studios.
Well, now that I have restored your faith in the mainstream media… I will return to my vacation and Kathy to her Dancing with the Oldies video.
By Mike.
1 comment:
I was listening to Charlie Steiner on Home Plate on XM radio when that happened . He was broadcasting in his studio when the quake started and went off his rocker on the air. It was a crack up!
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