Total KM = 554

It's been quite a day but lets start with last night.

We attended the "Hits of the 60's" live theater presentation last evening in Branson, Missouri and had a very nice evening. Lots of the great old songs - the audience was all around our age- singing and dancing in our seats. Yes, even Doug got up and danced!!!

Got an early start as it was looking very grey out - humid and warm but no sign of rain to begin with. The weather forecast had been ominous thus the prompt start.

As we were loading Raindancer a truck driver came over to ask which direction we were going as he had been talking to another driver west of us who was having difficulties with baseball size hail stones that were acting like ball bearings under his semi wheels. We felt OK with the start as we were going in the other direction so we headed out across Southern Missouri. Soon it became so dark you would have thought it was night. Then out of nowhere the lightening started around us followed VERY quickly by torrential rain and dangerous winds. We immediately turned around and went back to the last small town to find cover. In the very few minutes it took we were both soaked to the skin! We went inside the Taneyville General Store and were told of a tornado watch so stayed put watching the bad weather - tree pieces flying, signs and anything else not tied down flying down the road. Raindancer was rocking in all directions. The store owners had their police scanner on too so were hearing of all the homes with trees on them and the power lines down.

After an hour it started to clear so we set out again. No rain or wind by then but did we ever see lots of distruction - trees over the road, roof pieces in fields and trees on or near houses. The animals in the fields were all pretty calm, eating away so we were pretty sure it was over. Needless to say we had our rain gear on this time. From the net:

"Severe weather that included strong winds and heavy rain has claimed the lives of three people in southern Missouri. And the National Weather Service is looking into reports of tornadoes touching down in various regions of the state.
Two of the victims were a man and a woman in Butler County who were killed when a tree hit their car. A third person lost his life as a result of a heart attack brought on when he was blown out of his home by a possible twister that rumbled through Dallas County.
In addition to the deaths there are numerous injuries from the storms, including an injury to a Southwest Baptist University student in Bolivar who was hurt by flying debris.
There is also plenty of property damage. Among the buildings destroyed is Fair Grove High School. "


We stayed on the back roads and in spite of the weather had a lovely ride, rolling hills, curves, some parts like roller coasters. The only down side was needing to watch for all the tree debris on the corners as well as downed trees and transmission lines (rode over a few of those today!). Lunch lasted longer than usual (was punctuated by a power outage) as we waited for the black sky to dissipate somewhat.

Due to the two longish stops we ended up with a longer day. We had hoped to make it into Kentucky and here we are in Paducah.