(Las Animas, CO) -- Holy Twister, it's not often I'm left a little speechless but this was that moment.
When I learned that fellow Bent County resident, friend and Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Steve Keefer was inside Friday's tornado I couldn't wait to hear what it was like.
Steve told me he was just headed up to the Blue Lake area to check on campers and warn them of the coming storm. Bent County had just issued a severe weather alert, a thunderstorm warning Friday afternoon.
"In the middle of all of this I suddenly see debris circulating from the front of my truck and realized that I had a tornado." Steve explained. He said that's when he stopped the truck as quickly as he could. He said that's when the back window of the truck blew out.
"I don't know how long this lasted, it felt like quite a while but I'm sure it was only a few seconds, and felt a bump and a little after that I still had stuff blowing in through the back glass but looked up around and the truck was not pointed the same direction it had been."
"They tell you that you shouldn't ride one out in a vehicle but it was a little late at that point."
Steve was checked out by the Bent County Ambulance crew he tells us. He did decide to take it a little easy and sleep in later Saturday than he usually would.
Steve Keefer got up, had his coffee, told us his story and was on his way to work as a Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer. He said he would be driving a different truck today while his is repaired.
After a 40 year career in law enforcement he said this probably wins as his most exciting moment.
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