Missouri,
United States
Friday, September 22, 2006
From St Louis to Joplin, Missouri. Well still in Missouri after a days driving, a little bit behind schedule due to a tornado. You know they talk about a tornados' and Kansas city, you know Dorothy and Toto, well Kansas state is just one state away from Missouri. We left this morning from St Louis after watching the news from the comfort of our hotel room that there were storms and tornado's brewing, but who would of thought that we would be caught up in one. We started off with a leisurely drive out on 66, stopping off wih some native bush walking through the Prairies, then pushing off stopping off at a couple of towns a long the way. Lunch was had at Missouri 'Hick'-ory Barbecue Restaurant where we had a Sampler Platter consisting of ribs, brisket and pork, side salads of mashed potato and red beans and rice all for ten bucks. Such a hick restaurant at that but the food was soooo good! From the balcony of the restaurant is where we saw signs of stormy weather, but of course we didn't think we would be close to a tornado so we drove off again. Driving along we start seeing dark clouds looming, and folk sitting outside there houses just looking up... ah, its' all feeling a little eieery now but we keep going. It wasn't until we saw the anger of the clouds and thunder and then the debris flying around us that we thought we could be in trouble. Panic set in and we beeline back to the nearest town. Oh, then a tornado siren went off. You should of seen us run into the supermarket where it seemed business as usual, except for now a couple of stunned looking foreigners. We hung out there for long enough, before realising we probably should make a plan and leave. Back on the road very dubiously, passing a turned truck and water tank in the median strip and still bucketing it down we decided to pull into a Macadee's where we heard that a town called St James was pretty much ripped up due to this tornado. St James was the closest town to where we stopped and far too close to comfort for our likening.
Now in Joplin, a crazy truck stop town, still in Missouri spending the night in a Super 8 Motel and everything is calm.
Phew what a day... but exciting nevertheless. How often is it that you get to witness a tornado afterall.
Here is a link to a news story about the tornedo...
