Friday, May 15, 2009

An Unexpected Stop in Liberty, Missouri

After a quick Wal-Mart run and several unsuccessful attempts to find a gas station with a working air pump and credit card machine, we waved goodbye to O'Fallon, MO at about 10 AM. The first few hours on the road were relatively uneventful as we crossed the state of Missouri. We did pass Booneville, MO, which made me laugh because Colin and his family call their wiener dog, Rooney by the nickname of "Boone." 

Rooney aka "Boone"

Rooney's Namesake Town, Boonville, MO

After we passed Kansas City toward St. Joseph, MO we noticed the sky ahead of us was an ominous dark gray. As we neared it, the sky looked scarier and scarier. We pulled off the highway and stopped at a greenhouse to ask whether we should seek cover (I mean, we've seen Twister). They looked on the doppler online and told us the storm was pretty strong with thunder and a chance of hail and that it was currently over St. Joseph. Instead of driving straight into the storm, they recommended that we go back an exit to Liberty to wait out the storm. So here we sit, at the Starbucks in Liberty, MO, as thunder and lightning crash all around us and dime size hail comes down with the rain. 

The sky began to darken just North of Kansas City

This is about when we decided to pull over for a bit

The storm descends on Liberty, MO

My car braves the storm

We originally planned to drive about 11 hours today to Sidney, NE. The chances of actually making it that far are dwindling quickly. Now, I would be happy to make it halfway across Nebraska.  


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3 comments:

  1. EtheleeMay 15, 2009 at 3:31 PM

    Good call to stop and wait for the storm to pass. We've been having thunderstorms in the afternoons here since yesterday. I find it a bit odd because before the rain starts, it's usually quite bright and sunny. Even now looking outside my window, its raining buckets although the sun is out! Weird.

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  2. ColinMay 15, 2009 at 3:38 PM

    I'm sitting here with Boone on my lap and he appreciates his newfound celebrity status very much! He sat up like a prairie dog on my lap and is admiring his mug shot on the interwebs. Best of luck with the storm chasing and make sure you have a tornado shelter to run to! Summer is officially here and we're getting our 5:00 thunderstorm as I write this. I'm sorry you keep running into speed bumps, but I'm hoping your luck will change soon! Love you!
    P.S. "Bark-Bark" ~Rooney

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  3. caseyhollandMay 16, 2009 at 9:03 AM

    ROONEY IS FAMOUS!!! Hope the trip is going well. I too had to suffer through those shit storms the other night, and I am glad you guys decided to NOT drive because it was getting pretty bad.

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