How I spent my Memorial Day. . .

It started on Saturday with a hail storm. Marble sized hail sailed from the sky and covered the ground. Here we go again, I thought! However the clouds soon cleared and we decided to pack up the truck and head to Joplin to hug, see and hear our family in person. Because we didn't want to add to their burden, we decided to spend the night in nearby Springfield and head to Joplin early Sunday morning. After some desperate calls to hotels, we "settled" for a smoking room (yuck!) at a hotel off the interstate. We made it there in the early evening, and soon discovered why we had so much trouble finding a room. It seems that Springfield was sponsoring (as it does every Memorial Day) the National Hot Rod Association's annual get together. There were hot rods, antique cars and 4 wheel novelties of all kinds. After checking in, we also noticed that about half of the parking lot contained cars from Geiko, National, Progressive, Allstate and other insurance companies. The hotel was full of hot rodders and insurance adjustors. Oh boy! On Sunday morning, we got up and around early, partly because we couldn't wait to get out of the nasty smelling, smokey room. About 1 mile from our Joplin turnoff, we crossed under an underpass and the world began to change. It was obvious to see the tornado's exit path. The interstate was bordered by uprooted trees, signs blown over and businesses and houses in disarray. Little did we know that this was only the tip of what we were soon to see. I am going to continue this tomorrow, and try to post some photos. I am using a new camera and I am having some difficulty getting the photos to upload. I will post more tomorrow! Stay tuned for a first hand account of what Joplin looked like a week after the tornado hit.