The Road to Tucson
We wanted to get a big jump on travel in Day 2- we were up at 6am- out the door and down the road.
The day bright, cold, clear and bright, frost and snow on the ground as the region had been hit with its first dusting of the season.
One of the things we noticed was an abundance of State troopers along the InterState. We had to be especially careful with our speed as there were multiple speed traps. Lots of road kill as well, especially deer carcasses.
We were in St. Louis by noon. We toured a couple of historic neighbourhoods, admiring the heritage buildings. Back on the highway, we were happy to be rolling on the west side of the Mississippi, through the gentle hills of Missouri.
By the time we crossed Missouri, we noticed Joplin on the map, hit hard by a devastating tornado on May 22, 2011 which ripped right through the heart of the town.
We thought we’d take in the scene and as we came over the crest of a hill, you could follow the tornado’s path: it was about a half mile wide and a few miles long.
The devastation reminded me of New Orleans after the flood- not much left, a sobering experience. One hundred and sixteen people were killed; after driving around town, we were surprised the numbers were not higher. The tornado ripped right through a huge residential district, ran over a school and smacked the hospital. Buildings were left standing for no rhyme or reason and is was odd to see what did not get hit.
We ended up driving on to Oklahoma City, officially part of Great American Plains.
We will push on to Santa Fe, New Mexico and look forward to being in the mountains and desert once again.
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