We met for breakfast this morning and discussed our options. There was a severe weather warning for Memphis with thunderstorms and hail expected from the northwest within the next 15 minutes; travel was not recommended. We discussed lying low or or packing up and beating feet out of town ASAP. We opted to flee Memphis, post haste. As we entered the Interstate west, black threatening clouds filled the sky but no significant rain was falling. We rode about thirty miles and stopped for gas. Getting back on the Interstate we were immediately hit with vicious cross winds, rain and light hail. What a difference five minutes can make.
Our original plan was to take a nice two lane country road directly N/W to Joplin, MO, but in checking the weather radar on Bill's GPS the wiser course was to proceed west and attempt to circumvent the storm cells to the south. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. We rode into the one of worst thunderstorms that we have ever experienced. For the first time in all of my riding experience my waterproof gloves, rain suit and boots failed me. The rain got into everything; I was soaked.
As we continued, lightening began to crash down all around us and we decided that it was a good time to stop for breakfast. We found one of our favorite road-side restaurants, the Cracker Barrel, and stopped for a meal. After breakfast it was just sprinkling and most of the lightening was behind us. We suited up and were about to depart when suddenly the sky opened up and deluged us with a display of nature's force. Rain came down in torrents. The water was two inches deep in the parking lot. We delayed our departure. A customer walked by and said, "Good decision." We checked the weather radar and opted for the lesser of two evils, northbound was all yellow and red, severe weather, west was all green, just rain. We headed west.
After leaving the restaurant, the rain was so intense at times that we had to slow to a crawl and follow the taillights of the bike ahead of us, except for Lane, who was leading our group. He was trying to avoid the cars ahead and drivers who were not smart enough to even turn their headlights on in severe weather. It was quite an experience, one I would not want to repeat anytime soon. After another fifty miles of rain we finally passed out of the thunderstorms into clear sunny skies. The temperature increased dramatically.
Our drive north to Joplin was some of the most scenic areas that we had been through on our journey. We pulled into Joplin, MO, and met Lane's stepdaughter Amanda and her husband Will. They led us on a driving tour of the tornado devastation area, some thirteen miles long and as wide as 15 blocks in some areas. Tragically, some 154 people lost their lives in that tornado.
As we toured the devastation, we saw some unusual sights. At an elementary school that was totally demolished, one wall stood unaffected with books still sitting on a shelf. One of the hundreds of workers cleaning up the site told me that they saw a house where the roof and three walls were gone, yet a kitchen table set against the one remaining wall still had dishes on it with food on them. Nothing of the Walmart and Home Depot remained except for concrete slabs. The major hospital in the area had all of the windows blown out. Patients had to be moved to the adjacent parking lot and triaged.
Will told us that more than 50% of the people who suffered the effects of the tornado had no insurance; they lost everything. We saw a few souls picking through the rubble searching for anything of value that remained. There were no cheerful faces. It looked as though an atomic bomb had gone off. It was a solemn and sobering sight, one we will soon not forget.
After our tour we enjoyed a nice supper with Amanda and Will after an extraordinary long wait (many people have no kitchens to cook in or a bed to sleep in, all the hotels were booked) and we bid them farewell. We crossed the Missouri/Oklahoma border in the dark, our only night riding experience on the trip, and bedded down for the night.
Tomorrow we're officially headed home with long miles ahead of us, destination Amarillo, TX.
John and the Usual Suspects
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