A 23-year-old bank receipt from Hallam, Nebraska turned up in Papillion 30 minutes after the tornado leveled the Lancaster County town 73 miles away Saturday night.

Kathy McKinnon heard about the Hallam tornado, but she was focused on her yard work. She intended to throw away a piece of trash she had spotted while watching the rain come down. "Date on it 1981, Hallam Bank." It's a receipt of checks deposited in Hallam Bank by the Hallam Grain Company. For Kathy and daughter Mandy, a story on the news has now touched them personally. "If they're okay and their belongings and stuff, I mean, this is file cabinet stuff," said Kathy.

According to MapQuest, the distance from Main Street Hallam to Kathy's front door in Papillion is 73 miles. It would take one hour, 16 minutes to drive it, but from the time Kathy said she first spotted the paper compared to the time the tornado hit Hallam was a half-hour. "Scares the daylights out of me to know something can make it this far," said Kathy. "I know it's a piece of paper, but it flew." Added Mandy, "It's weird it would come that far." The McKinnons will keep the receipt and perhaps one day drive to Hallam and return it, but for now, they hold a small sample of a tornado's fury sent more than 70 miles via Mother Nature's airmail.

Byron Eames, who lives about 20 miles east of Council Bluffs, went for a morning walk Sunday and along a creek near his hone found a cancelled check that belongs to a couple from Hallam.